Harry Potter and the Freedom of Apathy
by nonjon
Summary: COMPLETE. PostOotP. After ten years in Azkaban Harry emerges a changed man. Enlightened and respectful, he is creature of magic full of disappointment and shame in his own race. And yet wielding power that none can match.
1. Imprisonment

**Disclaimer**: I own nothing; it all belongs to J.K.Rowling. I'm just borrowing the characters to play with for a while. This is for pleasure only, no profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.

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PROLOGUE – Imprisonment**

Harry Potter sat still in his cell. He remembered how his time in Azkaban began. How he never cried out loud, but he had completely irritated his eyes unable to stem the flow of tears. Having the only memory of your parents, be that of their murder is not a good thing. But it was the betrayals and pain he felt at people he had been foolish enough to trust before. The double standards the world had applied to the Boy-Who-Lived had disgusted him. He had used an unforgivable on a deranged lunatic escaped murderer who had just killed his godfather. And for that the Wizarding World condemned their savior as a traitor. As a Dark Lord in training. As a sympathizer of Voldemort. As _evil_.

It was two years into his ten year sentence when Harry made a startling discovery that changed his life. One of the age old debates was solved in Harry's head. Magic was sentient. It was not merely a force that existed and could be utilized. It was essentially alive. Harry wasn't sure it would be fair to call it truly alive, because if that were the case then magic could die. And Harry was pretty sure it couldn't die. You can fight it, you can resist it, you can block it or even negate it. But magic would still exist. And it had a mind of its own.

After two and a half years of struggling under the effects of the dementors, Harry was slowly building a resistance and his thoughts and understanding were becoming much clearer. When Harry realized Magic was sentient, he finally figured out it was trying to communicate with him. Knowledge he had never had before became instinctual to him. He understood his connection to Voldemort and was able to control it at will. Concepts and the ability to manipulate magic in ways he had never thought possible was at his complete command. He realized immediately he could break out with relative ease. He had enough understanding of magic, that his quantity of power was irrelevant. Even if it hadn't been, Harry was pretty sure he was really powerful. He suspected Dumbledore, Voldemort, and himself were all three in a class of their own. Exactly where among them he wasn't sure. But he had complete certainty that not only could he control and manipulate magic better than them, but that in fact Magic liked him better than either of them. And that was a pretty much insurmountable advantage.

Only very briefly did he toy with the idea of breaking out. Living a life as a fugitive would not have been ideal, but he wasn't opposed to it. But if he escaped, he would just be doing exactly what they expected of him. Vilified even more and appearing the traitor they believed him to be. That he could not stand for. He wanted to serve his sentence and leave. He was absolutely certain he didn't need any of them. Just as he was certain, that unless you supported Voldemort, then you definitely needed Harry. The community and Wizarding World offered him nothing and he would have no part in its society. He wasn't going to abandon magic, just the people who decided he deserved to rot in prison. He daydreamed of perhaps settling into a magical town outside of Europe. Or even just somewhere private on his own. Perhaps claim his own island as a secluded home and sanctuary. He had time to decide his own future once he had served his sentence.

Harry never had any visitors in the following seven and a half years. Dumbledore had only come to him once. Shortly after the first anniversary of his imprisonment. The old man wanted to see how he'd respond to the knowledge that Remus Lupin had been killed. The one man who had been trying to get Harry freed and believed the rest of the world was nuts for locking him up. Harry had been unsurprised at the knowledge of Moony's demise and had no reaction to Dumbledore at all. This was because three nights ago he had seen Remus die through Voldemort's eyes. It saddened him and hurt him, but there was the wonderful fact that he had taken Peter Pettigrew with him. Remus got some of the revenge he was owed and did his part to appease the spirits of Prongs, Padfoot, and Lily. Remus's life had not been very good at all. But his death had been spectacular. Wormtail had his silver hand squeezing Remus's neck. It was actually burning and sizzling on contact eating the flesh away, but Remus's instincts and werewolf strength snapped Wormtail's arm like a toothpick. Wormtail transformed to get away and Moony's dying action had been to grab the rat forcefully and bite his head off. Even Voldemort got a kick out of the scene.

Dumbledore seemed unperturbed at Harry's lack of reaction to the news of Moony's death. Harry didn't know if it was because the old man thought him crazy already. Or even thought Harry was 'too far along down the path of the Dark.' Harry half wondered if Dumbledore even considered the fact that Harry might have already known. Either way, Harry showed no emotion, though inside the brief respite from the dementors was appreciated. Mild taunting from the rare occasional auror passing through was the only other human contact he had in Azkaban.

The dementors it seemed did not openly ally with the Dark Lord. They already had too sweet a deal with all their needs being met by the prisoners. If forced to choose, it was most likely a foregone conclusion they would side with Voldemort but no one was able to force them to choose. They represented too powerful an ally or formidable an opponent for the Ministry to manipulate. And Voldemort decided they would be best served as a trump card only to be used if absolutely necessary. And not even Voldemort was certain that if forced they would submit to him when they already had a good deal that met all their needs. This was why they were Harry's only physical companions for almost a decade. When he was first put there, the dementors seemed to feed off him a lot, and he heard his parents and his so-called trial nearly continuously for the first few months. The constants of their pull seemed to dull with time to Harry. The voices in his head got gradually quieter, and the dementors in turn, seemed to leech less off him as he apparently didn't provide them the sustenance he had when he first arrived. After two years they barely affected him. And with his understanding of magic he could see why. They never seemed to pick on him, or go out of their way to try and harm him. Harry surmised they respected him somewhat. He sometimes wondered if communicating with them was possible or would even serve any purpose. But decided they were merely magical creatures doing their own part in life, and attempting to open lines of communication would not be worth risking inciting their wrath or aggravating them.

The change in Harry that both provided him with the understanding and the ability to leave came with the bitter irony of taking away any desire he had to leave. It all began when he stopped caring. He felt no more hatred towards Voldemort. He felt no more bitterness towards his former friends. He felt no more guilt for consequences beyond his control. It was simply a minor nuisance now to just bide his time until he had his freedom in the eyes of the Ministry of Magic's sense of justice. He used his time taking care of himself. Exercising and practicing magic that should have been impossible. Learning about and manipulating his mind as a tool and weapon. Skills and arts like Occlumency, Legilimency, Empathy, Telepathy, why and how they all worked. Organization of his mind and exploitation of his link to Voldemort. He was able to use it to spy on the Dark Lord. He could see through his eyes and read his surface thoughts. He had been doing this for a couple years before Voldemort ever even noticed his presence. Harry just happened to explore a little deeper than he should have and Voldemort recognized the mental attack and expelled him from his mind. Harry would slip in occasionally but Voldemort had complete control of his own mind and would expel Harry immediately upon noticing him in there.

Harry even voluntarily opened lines of communication with him. Voldemort responded with far more dignity and respect than Harry had expected. Voldemort constantly tried to get Harry to tell him how he was doing this and why he wasn't crazy. He briefly tried to sway Harry to join him in his conquest but Harry made it clear that was a lost cause. Murdering his parents and completely destroying all chances at a happy youth was simply not something you could ignore. Harry assured Voldemort he had no strong desire to hunt him down and exact his revenge. Harry's parents had sacrificed their lives so that he could live. Not so that he could spend his life fighting a never-ending battle between two factions of magic that only existed and were defined by the presence of the other. Dark magic and light magic were merely two sides of the same coin and both served their necessary purpose. Harry had no friends on either side, but if he were forced to acknowledge enemies they would no doubt be more prevalent on the dark side.

Voldemort briefly toyed with idea of breaking into Azkaban and capturing Harry. His ponderings were interrupted by the appearance of an incorporeal Harry Potter right in front of him. He informed him in no uncertain terms any future attacks on his person would be met with extreme prejudice. He explained he was somewhat indifferent as to whether he actually wanted Voldemort to be his enemy, but that if Voldemort had any sense at all he would not want Harry as an enemy. The fact that Harry was completely nonplussed to be in the Dark Lord's presence and putting himself there should have been impossible helped Voldemort make up his mind. Harry Potter was exactly the sort of sleeping dragon you don't want to tickle. Harry felt a little pride at the fear he could sense in Voldemort and they both had respect for the other's capabilities.

He had initially been crushed when his friends did nothing to help him. He remembered Ron's angry face at his trial and Hermione's disappointment. Harry assumed Dumbledore had something to do with their response no doubt painting the picture of Harry as an evil on his way to becoming another Tom Riddle. The fact that the trial was seemingly fair and proved that Harry had illegally led five other students and broken into the ministry in attempt to get to Sirius Black. A man who was a known escaped fugitive, and had regular contact with him. Since he had disappeared his innocence could not even be proven unless Pettigrew was found. All these were factors and charges brought against him but the icing on the cake was the casting of Cruciatus. The victim of his curse could provide no evidence but all signs pointed to a dark future for the young man. His five 'friends' received immunity in exchange for their own complete cooperation in the trial. Manipulating the questions they asked they were painted as victims who fell under Harry Potter's allure and blindly followed him. Ron seemed angry, like Harry had used him. Hermione seemed saddened by the whole situation and did nothing to help Harry in any way. Ginny, Luna, and Neville seemed like meek children following orders. None of them ever looked Harry in the eye, though Neville and Luna looked slightly hesitant to answer questions that would make Harry look evil but they answered them anyway as they would have been facing charges if they hadn't. Some small parts of Harry had felt sorry for them and couldn't blame them for their own predicament. But then he considered whether if the situations were reversed, what would he do? And Harry realized he would have stood up next to any of them and gladly gone to prison rather than lose their trust. When he realized none of them had similar feelings of care or trust for him, he became angrier and angrier thinking about them. Until the day came, when he stopped caring. They were beings who weren't even worth considering much anymore.

Feeling nothing is an incredibly freeing emotion. You cannot be hurt or feel the same sort of anguish others can. You lose all the pain and the guilt and the concerns but at the cost of compassion, trust, and love. This is not to say he lost his ethics or morality. He isn't without inhibitions nor is he a void of emotions that can cause harm without repercussions. But he wouldn't mourn the deaths of those that would cheer and jeer at his own death. Anything they call him or think about him matters little to Harry, as to him, their opinion is worth next to nothing. He thought for a while about the question of which was the worse evil: those who commit evil acts or those who have the ability to stop them and choose not to. He rationalized that dilemma away by realizing the concept of evil is entirely dependent on how the world is defined presently. The victors write the history books. The only difference between an uprising of civil unrest and a revolution of an incapable government is defined by who surrenders at the last battle. Today's atrocity may be tomorrow's moment of triumph.

And so the next chapter of Harry Potter's life was set to begin. He had served his ten years acting as an apparent model prisoner. Leader of the light and still Headmaster of Hogwarts Albus Dumbledore made his way to Azkaban to assist in the release of the Boy-Who-Lived.


	2. Freedom

**Disclaimer**: I own nothing; it all belongs to J.K.Rowling. I'm just borrowing the characters to play with for a while. This is for pleasure only, no profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.**  
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CHAPTER ONE – Freedom**

Albus Dumbledore arrived at the cold shores of Azkaban to pick up Harry Potter and decide what should be done with him. He had not seen him in nine years and assumed he would be incoherent and severely malnourished. With Harry Potter you cannot really make accurate assumptions and Albus was unsure whether he would be sane. Assuming he was still sane, he wasn't sure if Harry would be happy to finally be free or too full of anger still at everyone. Albus wasn't even sure if any of the possibilities would be good ones. Of all the possible ways he expected Harry to be, he would never have expected this.

Harry was looking relatively fit and perhaps a little bit anxious. But his eyes held neither malice nor happiness. It was as if they were bursting full of complete indifference. This was not the haunted look all the other prisoners had.

Harry acknowledged the Headmaster with a tilt of his head. "Good afternoon Albus."

Albus's confusion was quite visible. "Hello Harry. How are you feeling?"

"More anxious and excited than I've been in ten years." Harry said in a bit of mocking honesty.

Albus smiled. "I would imagine so. You look much healthier than I was expecting. Do you require any immediate assistance or can you walk with me to the warden's office?"

"I think I'll manage just fine." Harry stood and decided that being open and addressing most of the man's questions would make his future easier. Harry smiled at him, snapped his fingers and the bars and door to his cell disappeared. Harry calmly walked out next to the Headmaster.

Albus's eyebrows jumped in surprise at this. Apparently Harry could have broken out at any time and given his appearance may have done just that many times in the past.

"Before you jump to conclusions, this is the first time I've left this cell in ten years. And I won't be answering all your questions, but I know some cannot be avoided."

Albus continued to coolly examine the young man in front of him. If his instincts were correct, Harry posed no danger to him at all, but could completely destroy him if Harry chose to try. "Since you no doubt know much of what I'm going to ask, would you care to merely explain it to me in your own words?"

Harry shook his head. "Not particularly, no. But I'll try to answer the ones you ask."

Albus was realizing just how little control he had in this situation. "Let's walk to the warden's office and converse along the way."

Harry motioned with his hands to allow Albus to lead and he would follow him there. "After you and fire away."

"How is it that you're not only sane but in surprisingly good condition?"

"After a little over two years, the dementors barely affected me. I used my time to exercise and practice magics."

"Magics? What sorts of magics and how? I was under the impression the cells prevented prisoners from most forms of magic."

"I practiced all kinds of magic. And you know most magic relies on belief. I believed my magic would work."

"How were you able to practice? My understanding was you only had a 5th year's education and were reliant on your wand for magic."

"Well I have lost a lot of my reliance on wands. And like I said, I believed in it."

Albus wasn't sure he believed all that but certainly detected no lie. Harry's calm demeanor was quite frustrating the old man. "Have you been in contact with anyone? Did they provide you with the assistance and education?"

"I suppose I have been in contact with one person. And they never willingly provided me any assistance."

"Who?"

"I'm sure you know who it was. You've no doubt seen my file and know no one has come to visit me."

This thought made Albus more uncomfortable. "So your link with Tom remains active?"

"When I choose to open it yes."

Albus paused and asked, "What is your opinion of your parent's murderer now?"

They arrived in the empty office and Harry sat down in a chair while Albus sat in the other one. "Nice wording there Albus. My opinion is that he is a homicidal psychopath with an immense amount of power. He makes for a horrible adversary but an even worse ally. Is that what you need to know?"

Albus looked at him quizzically. "You have no desire to fight him?"

Harry leveled a gaze straight into Albus's eyes. "No more than I do you."

Albus flinched at that thought. He knew he wouldn't survive against both Tom and Harry. He seriously doubted he could handle just Harry. "I've never meant to harm you Harry. I only had the good of the wizarding world and your best interests at heart."

"You're taking this conversation in a dangerous direction Albus. Perhaps we should speed this up so I can be out of your hair a bit quicker."

"We could use your help. Tom has been slowly gaining ground. Minister Diggory has been a huge help, but we are not winning this war."

"You're right, you're not winning. But you won't get my help."

"Harry. You know the prophecy. The wizarding world will most likely fall without your help."

"In the interests of justice, considering the wizarding world felt I deserved to be locked in prison, I think it would be quite just if it got imprisoned itself."

"You would condemn us all?"

"No, though that would be my right to since you all condemned me first. I'm merely leaving you. You've condemned yourselves." The complete lack of emotion as Harry said these things disturbed Albus more than anything else. Albus was at a loss.

"Is there anything that can be done to mend this rift Harry?"

Harry smiled a little for the first time. "This isn't a rift Albus. This was a complete break and separation. You may have been trying to exercise some control and to mold me, but I've learned too much about your character and what your trust is worth to further continue our relationship."

"Are you referring to me or to the wizarding world?"

"Both."

"I fear if you do not allow yourself to forgive you are going to wallow in darkness and negativity."

"Your fears are groundless. I've been letting you read my emotions this entire conversation and I know you felt no signs of darkness or negativity. Either directed towards yourself or Tom."

Albus was liking this less and less. He was hoping Harry had been suppressing and hiding his emotions but to actually feel so little was scary. Tom felt full of hatred and distrust. Harry felt like he had been Kissed. "So what are you going to do with yourself now?"

"Leave Britain. Find somewhere I can call my own. Make a home. Study more magic. Things that would make the people I care about feel proud. Fighting your war for you is not on that list."

"Have you no happy memories left? Do you not wish to even visit with your friends? Or to perhaps finish your Hogwarts education?"

"I've plenty of happy memories. Reliving them now doesn't bring as much joy as they used to, but I still have them. As for friends, I can think of no wizard alive I would call a friend. Hogwarts curriculum has little left to offer me, and the idea of becoming a student there again is ludicrous. Although," Harry paused briefly thinking, "I would like to talk to her. Would you like to go there now?" Harry finished extending his hand.

Albus tentatively reached out and grasped Harry's hand and felt the telltale signs of being a passenger to apparition. Slicing straight through the wards and arriving directly in front of the front door really should not have surprised Albus. But it did. He chuckled to himself "I see you haven't read _Hogwarts, A History_."

Harry smiled at the feelings Hogwarts was giving Harry. He ignored Albus's joke and was communicating with the castle. To the Headmaster's surprise, the stone wall seemed to melt away into a doorway.

"Excuse me Albus. I would like to talk to Hogwarts for a bit and catch up with her." And Harry quickly walked in the mysterious door before the Headmaster could say anything. The doorway disappeared and melted back into stone.

The Headmaster didn't know what to think now. His control over the wards and his bond with the school hadn't even twitched this whole time. He walked up to his office and sat comfortably thinking about and waiting on Harry. He was probing his link with the castle asking where Harry was, what they were talking about, why the castle responded to him. He was a bit alarmed when along the bond he heard Harry's voice reply back "I'll be there in less than five minutes."

About four and a half minutes later a golden doorway appeared in the middle of the Headmaster's office. Harry stepped out and looked at the Headmaster as the doorway seemed to disappear. Fawkes let out a triumphant trill and flew up in the air circling Harry a few times. "Thank you Fawkes. That was wonderful. It's good to see you." Harry said with the brightest smile Albus had seen yet.

Fawkes chirped back in response and settled onto Harry's knee once he was sitting down. Fawkes and Harry were looking at each other seemingly having a conversation with their eyes. Harry spoke up "Would you let me try Fawkes?"

Fawkes trilled back something that Albus interpreted as "I'd be honored." Albus was quite curious what was going on. Harry gently placed both of his hands on either side of Fawkes head. Fawkes looked deep into Harry's eyes before bowing his head and giving him a little head butt. Albus saw some sort of sparkle of magic swirl between them before Fawkes leaped back up and started trilling again. Albus was still unprepared for the continuous surprises when Harry stood up and with a pop transformed into a phoenix that looked almost like a brother to Fawkes, but clearly not exactly Fawkes. Harry trilled out a song that had very little effect on Albus's mood. He then paused and hovered and exploded in bright white flames that receded to reveal a human Harry Potter again. "That was amazing Fawkes. Thank you."

"Harry? Would you mind sharing with me what you just did?"

"Sure Albus. A simple explanation would be I just exposed my magic to Fawkes and he in turn showed me his. I then gave him a gift, and he gave me one in return. My transformation and rebirth were his gift to me. Should make dying a bit easier now." Fawkes flew over and cuffed Harry in the head for that comment. "Oh stop Fawkes, you know I wasn't trying to use you."

"Harry, are you implying you are now immortal?"

"You're assuming I wasn't immortal before." Harry was saying with a smirk. "Geez Fawkes, you've got my disposition all playful now." A trill was responded and Harry added "Yes, I'm sure that it was purely for Albus's benefit and you're taking no joy in this at all."

"Forgive me for intruding, but what did you gift Fawkes in return?"

Albus was startled to hear the response in his head. "_He thought I might like some advanced talents in Legilimency_."

Albus jumped back in his chair and looked at his companion. "Fawkes?"

Fawkes seemed to be laughing as well as a phoenix can. "_Albus_?"

"Oh my. This can make things much more fun." Albus said with a smile.

"This may mean you're going to have to stop crapping in Albus's lemon drops." Harry commented with a smile. Fawkes was unprepared for his new brother to start throwing out secrets and lost control of his flight and smacked into the painting of Dilys Derwent. Albus and Harry were both laughing at the normally graceful phoenix doing his best to make that move look intentional.

They were interrupted by a knock on the Headmaster's door. Albus bellowed out "Enter" and wasn't too surprised to see Dobby walk in. "Dobby is all packed and has said his goodbyes, Harry."

Albus had a playful smile and said "I take it I'm losing one of my best house-elves?"

Harry's face adopted a grimace and said, "Probably most other elves would take pride in that comment, but Dobby never belonged to you, Albus. He's his own being, not property, and I invited my friend to come along with me." Dobby wasn't as hurt by the comments as Harry implied but he certainly was happy to hear him voiced as a friend, even an equal. Dobby smiled and said "Looking forward to it, Harry. And thank you, Headmaster, for the employment and home for the past thirteen years. Dobby knows the Headmaster is brilliant, and probably knew Dobby would be leaving."

"I apologize if I offended you Dobby, and you have been most welcome and will continue to be welcome back here in employment or to visit any time you wish." The Headmaster responded genuinely.

"Well, I think this is where we should say goodbye. I think I'm going to let Dobby teach me a thing or two about this freedom stuff he's always talking about." The Headmaster was bothered by how calmly Harry could say things like that. "I really wish you would stay and help us, but I can see now is not the time. Will you be reachable by owl?"

"I've been trying to remain as courteous and respectful with you as possible Albus, but I hope you are not misinterpreting that as false hope. I have very little respect for the wizarding world. I may remain visible and active in the magical world, but do not misconstrue that as being the same as the wizarding world. And, if you can convince him, my newest brother over there will always be able to find me." Harry said with a nod towards Fawkes. Fawkes let out a trill and perched briefly on the top of Harry's head. Fawkes bent straight down and was looking at Harry upside-down with a phoenix smile. A brief nibble on Harry's nose and he took back to the air before settling on his perch.

"Good day Albus."

"Be well Harry."

"So tell me Dobby, have you ever traveled by phoenix fire?"

Dobby had a quizzical look and shook his head. "No."

Harry popped into his new phoenix form flew around the room trilling a song that brought smiles to Fawkes and Dobby's faces before grabbing Dobby by the shoulders and flashing away in a burst of fire. Albus again was confused that Harry's song had no effect on him. It gave him neither good nor bad feelings. It sounded hollow and left him with a feeling of emptiness.


	3. Understanding

**Disclaimer**: I own nothing; it all belongs to J.K.Rowling. I'm just borrowing the characters to play with for a while. This is for pleasure only, no profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.

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CHAPTER TWO – Understanding**

"So tell me Fawkes, now that we can converse, should I be worried I will lose my favorite companion?"

Fawkes seemed to smile. "_No Albus. I've stood by and accepted you long ago for exactly who you are. My friends or brothers will never affect us in that way. Though I am a little disappointed that you even have that small fear._"

"Well, as you can tell you've assuaged it plenty with your response. So how did you and Harry do that anyway? I've never heard of anything like it. I'm definitely jealous and curious why we never did something similar."

Fawkes laughed, "_I suppose it's because even I still don't know what we did. He merely informed me that we were compatible and wanted to try. I don't know if I could do that with anyone else, even if I did want to, and actually knew how. And from what I saw of his magic, I'm not too sure it would be possible with anyone else. His magic was _different."

"Different? What do you mean?"

"_It seemed more refined. Maybe more integrated within himself. It's not exactly easy to explain, but it wasn't the same as any other wizard's magic I would assume. And before you ask, yes his core was as big as yours. Maybe a little bigger._"

"Ah now, size isn't everything. Now what's this about crapping in my lemon drops?"

"_Hey there's someone in your fireplace!_"

Albus grudgingly turned around and heard the telltale fwoosh of phoenix fire travel behind him. He could only laugh at his companion's playfulness.

The Order had gathered in the Headmaster's office. Some were hoping Harry Potter would be there, but the majority of them were glad he wasn't.

"Do we have any issues or reports to discuss before we get into Harry Potter and his future?"

Severus Snape spoke up, "The Dark Lord has informed all of his Death Eaters to try and leave Harry Potter alone. If I didn't know better I would think he's intimidated by him."

A few of the more vocal detractors of Harry's voiced their assurances he was no doubt on his way to being Dark. Most didn't think he would join Voldemort, but perhaps become the new Voldemort.

"Silence please. Is there anything not Mr. Potter related we need to address?"

No one said a thing. It seemed they were all eager to get into the meat of tonight's main topic.

"Very well. In that case, Severus, I must concur. I suspect Tom is very intimidated by Mr. Potter. I certainly was."

Several gasps could be heard. It seemed Albus still had to fight the occasional appearance of infallibility.

"Please! Before any of you jump to conclusions, please allow me to relate the events of this afternoon.

"I arrived at Mr. Potter's cell and found him in quite good physical and mental condition. It appears he had developed immunity to the Dementors effects after just two years." Many people looked frightened and awed at this. This was not a good sign.

"I can see fear in many people's eyes, and let me put them to rest immediately. In my opinion, Harry holds no ill will towards any of us. He is not evil or turning dark as we like to call it. He is quite indifferent towards all of us. But he is extremely skilled in magic and were anyone to attempt to attack him, I have no doubt he could defend himself most likely quite forcefully."

Ron Weasley exclaimed "What! How is that possible? He was in prison. You cannot just learn and practice new magic in prison."

"As far as I can tell, he can, even if none of us could."

Severus narrowed his eyes "What makes you come to these conclusions?"

"Well, for example, I never let him out of his cell. After a brief greeting with me, he snapped his fingers and his entire front cell wall and door disappeared. It is almost disturbing that he could have escaped at any time but instead chose to serve his complete sentence."

Molly Weasley yelled out "He's dangerous! No doubt using some dark magic in Azkaban."

Albus shook his head. "No, he cannot be too dark. Fawkes immediately connected with him, and they did something with each other. Harry was then able to turn into a phoenix as well as be reborn it appears."

Hermione Weasley nee Granger shook her head and spoke up "That shouldn't be possible for a dozen different reasons. What sort of magic was it?"

Albus was chuckling, "well, it was a new one to both me and Fawkes. And oh yes, thanks to Harry, I can now converse openly with Fawkes."

There were several minor discussions going on about how it sounded evil, but a phoenix submitted and shared with him, and if he could turn into one of the most light creatures, then he couldn't really be evil, could he?

"I will admit Harry seems to have a much closer connection to magic than I thought possible. And he has no respect for many of our rules about magic."

"What do you mean?" Harry's inquisitive bushy-haired former friend asked.

"Well he took my hand and apparated the both of us straight through Hogwarts wards. He then had a private discussion with Hogwarts."

Many members did not like the sound of this one bit. An extremely powerful young man with every reason in the world to be angry at just about everyone.

"I see you are all getting more worried. Let me assure you I do not believe Harry to be any threat to us or our way of life. But I do not see us getting much assistance from him either."

Tonks was heard muttering "Now that's a surprise." Ron seemed to turn his anger in a different direction "That coward! Why won't he help us? Surely he wants to see Voldemort dead as much as we do."

"No he appears to hold no ill will towards Tom anymore. I think he's just going to ignore us. He claims he has no friends alive and that his parents would want him happy. Not fighting what he called _our_ war. I believe he intends to disappear from the wizarding world."

"He's really not going to fight?" Hermione asked.

"No. In my best estimation, he cares for magic, and he cares for most magical creatures and species, but he has no interest or respect for humanity or specifically wizards and witches. I am disappointed but I cannot blame him."

Ron spoke up, "So let's get Voldemort to annihilate some race like centaurs or something."

A number of people were outraged by that suggestion but there were a few considering it.

Albus frowned and narrowed his eyes. "I would never condone any attempts to attack others like that. And for what its worth I suspect Harry would see straight through that subterfuge and we truly would have him as an enemy. I think we must respect his wishes and leave him be."

Tonks asked a question that she knew would get an ugly response. "Do you think he will ever forgive us? Or at least understand why he went to prison?" Many members were appalled that she would want forgiveness from him, when everything Harry got he brought onto himself.

"I think he does understand why he went to prison. And he merely disagrees with our system. He respected our laws enough to serve his full sentence rather than do what many would have expected him to do and break out and leave forever then."

Albus listened to many members further arguing about what to do about Harry Potter and whether he should be forced to help, locked back up, or apologized to. Seeing firsthand just how little respect they had for another's free will, Albus found himself sympathizing more and more with Harry. And it seemed no one else realized just how badly they had messed up with regards to him.

Severus was studying Albus intently. "Headmaster, do you believe the prophecy has not been fulfilled and is a true one?"

Albus had a frown on his face. "I never had as much faith in it as Tom did, but for that reason alone we had to respect it. For our sake, I hope it is not the only prophecy. There could have been newer ones negating it since for all we know. And even still there are too many ways to interpret this one even if you do believe in it. It may not refer to Harry, or even to this Dark Lord. Or it may not be a true prophecy. Or it could be true and Harry will have a change of heart. Or perhaps we could incite Tom into attacking Harry and force the two of them to fulfill it. I fear for our sake if we did that though. I have no doubt Harry's ire would be directed at us if he discovered we had anything to do with that. And quite frankly I'd put our odds better against Tom than Harry."

Severus didn't like the sound of that. It seemed the Dark Lord felt the same way towards Harry. Severus had a sinking feeling that neither of the two sides he served would emerge victorious or at least remain victorious for very long.

Tonks seemed one of the most sympathetic towards Harry and asked "So what's he going to do? Should we be keeping close tabs on him?"

"I believe we wouldn't be able to keep on tabs on him, if he wished to prevent us. He left this afternoon and took his friend Dobby and traveled away by phoenix fire. I'm not sure where they went but I heard that he was seen at Gringotts today."

"He's got a friend? I thought he didn't care for anyone?"

"He doesn't care for any wizards and witches as far as I can tell. Dobby is a house elf."

Bill Weasley spoke up. "I heard some rumors about him coming by Gringotts. One of them was that he was speaking fluent Gobbledegook with the goblins. I thought them completely ridiculous at the time but now I'm not so sure."

"From what I've seen that seems very possible. He was quite capable of communicating with Hogwarts as well as Fawkes even before they became brothers of some sort. It appears as though anything magical will have an affinity towards Mr. Potter."

"Do you think we are in danger if he's got some control over the castle? Should we still even be meeting here?"

"No I don't think we are in danger from him. The only danger we have is if we keep assuming he is our enemy and treating him as such. To be honest, I think he may help to defend the castle if she were attacked. That is not to say he would defend its inhabitants, but merely Hogwarts herself.

"For now, I want all of you to recognize the immense power he wields and respect it. We do not wish to make an enemy out of him. I firmly believe he would prefer not to make us his enemies, but that if we force his hand he will show us little mercy."

"So basically the same as the Death Eaters?" Severus snidely put in.

Albus nodded. "Exactly. Because as of now, from Harry's point of view, we are no different than they are. Fawkes related it as if he thinks of me as a kinder, gentler Voldemort." Many people gasped at the comparison.

"Not the most favorable comparison I've received, but we should take solace in the fact that we do in fact have a semi-clean slate as far as he's concerned. We just never may have his trust, confidence, or assistance ever again."

The meeting adjourned, some of the members left, while others remained and continued to argue about Harry Potter. Almost everyone was happy to leave him alone and many hoped to never hear from him again.

Tonks approached the Headmaster. "Sir, do you think leaving him alone is the best thing for Harry? I mean in terms of his own personal health and mental condition."

"No, Miss Tonks, I do not. But I feel I have wronged him too many times already and doing anything other than respecting his wishes exactly as he requests would be just another mistake to add to the list."

"I feel rotten about this whole thing, sir. He never should have gone to prison. I know you said it would be necessary to derail him from the path to the dark, but I'm not sure that's enough reasoning for me. Do you think we made a mistake in not breaking him out or fighting harder for his freedom? Fudge has been dead for over three years, and we never even brought it up to Minister Diggory."

"After this afternoon, yes I think sending him to prison was a mistake. It took him a mere hour or so to have me completely convinced it was not possible for him to turn evil. His ethics and sense of justice are too strong. To be honest, I think it is us who are going to suffer most for imprisoning him. And as horrible as it sounds, I suspect getting him out three years ago would have made little difference. I think his mind has been made up for many years now."

"Do you think he'd be upset if I sent him a letter? I would like to at least talk to him myself."

"I'm not sure whether that would be a good idea or not. He probably thinks he doesn't want to hear from any of us. But I suspect if you're open and honest with him, he will be courteous and honest in return. Though you can expect the same amount of warmth and generosity you get from a goblin teller at Gringotts."

"Thank you sir. I think he'll be glad to receive this owl."


	4. Recognition

**Disclaimer**: I own nothing; it all belongs to J.K.Rowling. I'm just borrowing the characters to play with for a while. This is for pleasure only, no profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.

**

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CHAPTER THREE – Recognition**

A relatively uncommon sight for Diagon Alley was for a phoenix to appear in a burst of flames carrying a house elf. When the phoenix popped into Harry Potter many people gasped and ran for cover. Dobby was disgusted by their behavior but was sadly used to it. Harry didn't even seem to give people's responses a second thought. First Harry needed to go to Gringotts and make sure his finances were in order. Anything more than that Harry was going to decide later. He wanted to purchase some things, but sometimes dealing with clerks and retail people was just too much human contact for his tastes. Maybe pick up a few owl order catalogs if there were international businesses.

The uncommon pair walked into Gringotts and seemed to be attracting quite a crowd. No one had actually approached Harry or said anything directly to him, but they weren't exactly whisper quiet either. Harry was quite pleased when he actually recognized one of the first goblins he'd ever met. He walked over to him, put his hand across his chest, and gave a slight bow. "Greetings Griphook." Harry said in clear Gobbledegook. Griphook had a brief look of surprise before it twisted into a giant smile. He responded in Gobbledegook "Greetings Mr. Potter. It pleases me to see the reports of your madness in Azkaban were greatly exaggerated."

Harry saw Dobby was slightly curious and had a little fearful look on his face. He switched back to English for Dobby's sake. "Dobby, I would like you to meet Griphook. Griphook was the first goblin and perhaps even first magical creature I can ever remember meeting. Griphook, this is Dobby, a friend of mine who has saved my life almost as many times as he has endangered it."

Dobby blushed a little and bowed. Griphook nodded back to him and asked in English "Can I help you with anything Mr. Potter?"

"Please call me Harry. And yes, I was hoping to visit my vault as well as inquire some about Gringotts practices and other branches."

"Certainly, I can take you to your vault now. Though it has changed significantly since you were last here. You've had three vaults that were combined into one."

The three of them climbed into a cart, though Dobby was a bit hesitant, he trusted Harry.

Griphook assured the scared looking elf. "Just hold on tight Dobby. I think you will enjoy this."

Sure enough Dobby was holding his head high, loving the feeling of the wind rushing by and his ears flapping violently. A few times in his joy he was unable to keep his tongue from wagging out until he would catch a rock or bug in his mouth. Harry and Griphook were both laughing at the house elf. Harry could tell they were going to a vault far deeper than his vault had been, but even still he suspected Griphook was taking the long way for Dobby's sake. Along the ride, Harry discovered that by prosecuting and sentencing him as an adult the ministry had immediately granted him emancipation and adult status in the wizarding world. Thus he gained control of the Potter Family Vault, as well as his previous personal vault, and another one that was left to him by Sirius. Apparently Sirius's will and Remus Lupin's insistence had helped insure that Harry's finances were secure. It had previously been a joint account for Remus and Harry but Remus had left the most simplistic instructions in his will. Everything that was his now belonged to Harry. Which covered his share of the things Sirius had left to them both.

The vault inside was massive. A ton of wealth, as well as family heirlooms and a couple of portraits were in there. Harry did not recognize the first one, a man named William Potter, but the second one had a pair of people Harry did recognize: Godric Gryffindor and Helga Hufflepuff. Harry spotted some old school trunks that he suspected belonged to Sirius and his parents. He started collecting everything he could that he thought he might want or need in the near future. Scores of books, many of them quite obviously ancient were piled into a trunk. Another one he and Dobby filled with other useful things, a few wands, staves, swords, and other weapons. The portraits and a few other family heirlooms were added to that one too. They put a small fortune into a third trunk. Griphook explained to Harry that Gringotts did have branches all over the world, and money could easily be taken from any branch, but that items other than money usually took overnight to be retrieved from their vaults. Griphook asked Harry if he wouldn't mind meeting with an elder goblin and answering some questions he had. Harry told him he would be happy to. Once Harry and Dobby had gathered up all the things they wanted they shrunk the trunks and pocketed them and hopped back in the cart. As Harry suspected the ride back was decidedly shorter than the ride down to his vault.

Griphook led Harry and Dobby to a private office that merely said "Ragnok" on the door. Griphook knocked some specific pattern on the door, and ushered them in. Ragnok had a significant beard and was seated behind a large mahogany desk. He was putting a up a quill as he finished writing something. He smiled a somewhat disconcerting smile at Harry.

Harry again bowed and spoke in Gobbledegook. "Greetings Ragnok. I hope you don't mind I've brought a friend with me."

Ragnok's smile didn't change but it seemed to lose some of its unsettling qualities. The elder goblin replied in English. "Not at all. Dobby, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." He said nodding at the little guy. Dobby smiled and nodded back.

"In fact, Dobby's presence alone makes us more comfortable." Ragnok continued.

"Us?" Harry asked.

"I apologize, when I say us, I am speaking as a representative for all goblins, though especially those present here in Britain."

Harry was a bit shocked that apparently their community had issues they wanted to discuss with him. "Alright. Well I appreciate all the consideration and cooperation I have always received from goblins, and now I'm wondering what it is that I can do for you or to make you more comfortable."

"Ah well, let's just get right to the heart of the matter then. The goblins rarely get involved in the affairs of wizards, and we have no intentions to choose sides in this current battle between the dark and the light." Harry was nodding. Ragnok continued "But that is not to say we do not have vested interests in seeing which side eventually prevails. It is not our place to judge whether your past treatment is fair in the eyes of wizarding society, but we would like to assure you, were it our place, you would have gotten a medal and a raise not imprisonment."

Harry was smiling and thinking he liked Ragnok.

"And in addition, goblins as a whole are a bit more attuned to magic than wizards are in some ways. You will quickly find this true of many other magical races and species. And from what we're hearing from the magic, is that we should be listening to what you have to say."

"Hmm. Wow. Well okay. What you need to know about me is that I have no interest in participating in this wizarding war. My problems and issues of late have all been with wizards, and as a whole, I'm a bit ashamed of them as a race. Right now, the term humanity carries negative connotations to me, and I have every intention to remain an active part of the magical world, but not necessarily to play any role in the wizarding world."

Harry took a breath and continued. "If things get too bad, and I am forced to choose a side, I would obviously be more inclined to look at intentions and tolerance, and right now that would mean supporting the people who felt I deserved to rot in prison. Those following the homicidal psychopath who murdered my parents and has tried to kill me numerous times in the past are a lot less likely to see any of my sympathy. But I'd be a fool to ignore the possibility that my opinion on both sides could change."

Ragnok smiled and nodded. "Very well. You should be aware, there is no wizard anywhere who commands as much respect among goblins as you do and your significant wealth doesn't hurt that either. If you choose to support a side, I would like you to know you can ask for and would receive the goblins' support."

Harry was a bit shocked at this, but didn't show beyond a slight widening of his eyes. "To be honest, I doubt I would ask for it. This is not a battle you should have to fight. It's not a battle I should have to fight either, but at least it is my own direct race attacking itself."

Ragnok had a knowing look on his face. "It is that very reason that you are so unlikely to ask for it, that the goblins are willing to give it. You seem to be blind to the prejudices most all wizards hold. I certainly do not know any other wizards proud to count a house elf as a friend and equal." He finished with glance and smile at Dobby.

"There's no arguing that. Wizard's prejudices are too ingrained into their society. Their own intolerance has brought this war upon themselves."

"Well, we can always hold out hope, that those most intolerant will wipe each other out. If I thought their mindsets could be changed, I'd be more pacifistic and supporting rehabilitation. But as goblin history teaches us all, sometimes, the only solution can be found in the eradication of the problem."

"I'm not a fan of might makes right, but I have a feeling I'm not going to be able to stay on the sidelines for the entirety of this game. But I am certainly going to try."

"Excellent Mr. Potter. Consider us an ally in neutrality at the very least. If you don't mind me inquiring, do you plan to remain in Britain? You do own several properties in a variety of places, not all here in Britain."

"Please call me Harry. And actually I have a place in mind I was planning on building myself a new home. I haven't really discussed all the options with Dobby yet, but I suspect I will offer all magical creatures and beings a safer alternative if they wish to withdraw from the war or oppressive wizards. I'm not sure if it's even feasible or possible, but I feel as though I shoulder some responsibility as a wizard to try and correct some of my forefathers' mistakes."

"I think that sounds like a wonderful idea Harry. If you would like any assistance, even in something as simple as spreading the word, we would be glad to help."

"I may take you up on that. If things work out as I hope, I will be in touch sometime soon. But first Dobby and I need to check out the area and see what can be done or needs to be done."

"Don't be a stranger Harry. We'll let you know if there's anything we think you should be aware of around here."

"Thank you Ragnok. Do you mind if Dobby and I leave straight from here? I don't particularly care to make a scene in the Alley again."

"Be my guest, though I should warn you we have anti-apparition wards and portkey wards up and both are quite strong."

Harry smiled "I may be able to help you strengthen those wards, and perhaps even further protect some parts of Gringotts actually, but I was planning on using phoenix fire travel anyway."

Ragnok chose to mimic some of Harry's own words and replied "I may take _you_ up on that Harry. It has been a long while since a mage has tried to make any improvements to our protections."

Harry nodded at Ragnok. "Dobby, you ready to see where I want to set up shop?"

"Yes Harry. And looking forward to the fire travel again too." Dobby said with a smile.

Harry turned and bowed again and said "Good day Ragnok" in Gobbledegook, before transforming into a phoenix, and grabbing Dobby and disappearing in a flash of fire. Ragnok was shocked into silence at this feat of magic. Though he would deny it later and claim there was merely no one to hear him.


	5. Belonging

**Disclaimer**: I own nothing; it all belongs to J.K.Rowling. I'm just borrowing the characters to play with for a while. This is for pleasure only, no profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.

**

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CHAPTER FOUR – Belonging**

"Harry, where are we?" Dobby asked.

"We're on an island that wizards do not believe exists anymore."

"I can feel the magic in the air. This is even stronger than it feels at Hogwarts."

"I'm not surprised. I only spotted it from Fawkes memories and recognized it for what it is. Fawkes may not even realize what this place is. Just large groups of phoenixes sometimes meet up here."

"You said you recognized this place for what it is. So what is it?"

"You are familiar with the tales of Atlantis? And its destruction and subsequent sinking into the ocean?"

"Mmm-hmm."

"Well it appears that there's been some seismic activity or earthquakes, or perhaps Magic herself was exerting some will, because it's not at the bottom of the ocean anymore."

"This is Atlantis! That's why it feels so magical! There were real elves that lived here."

"Yeah. I thought we could work on putting together a nice island sanctuary here, and provide a safe haven to creatures and species chastised and enslaved."

"House elves won't want to come here."

"Ah Dobby, we're two of a kind. Neither of us fit the mold of our races. But you need to look at it like I do. I may not have faith in humanity as a whole, but I won't condemn each and every individual human. Just like you shouldn't presume there are no other house elves like yourself who want and enjoy freedom."

"Harry Potter is wise and a good friend to Dobby." Dobby said before catching himself. "And Dobby still needs work on his speaking."

"You're doing great Dobby. Don't be too hard on yourself. Maybe Harry Potter just needs to speak more like Dobby does." Harry responded with a smile.

"Which way Harry?"

Harry pointed and said "That direction. Let's see if there's anything much in the ruins, as it will be easiest to build our home there. And it will be pretty cool rebuilding Atlantis."

The pair trekked through some dense foliage seeing very little life. They found a few crups, flobberworms, and such, but nothing surprising. They noticed a significant building in the distance and hurried their approach.

"Those don't look like ruins, Harry."

"No they don't. I think someone has been here since Atlantis fell. I'm beginning to wonder if perhaps Merlin really did have an Avalon of his own."

It was an impressive structure. Somewhere between a castle and library, there were four smaller towers at each corner and a much taller central tower. It appeared to have been abandoned for a while, but would be easily repairable. Depending on the enchantments put onto the place, it may be as simple as refreshing the wards to get her to clean herself back up.

Before they could enter the imposing front doors, Harry put a hand on Dobby and moved him behind him. "Stay behind me Dobby." Harry's eyes were moving back and forth across the tree line and their surroundings seeing nothing, but sensing that they were being watched.

"Who goes there? I am Harry Potter and I mean you no harm."

Slowly, Harry began noticing a seeing of eyes in the shadows. They seemed to be glowing red, and Harry felt these beings were more curious than angry. A low growling could be heard and an enormous male griffin emerged from directly in front of Harry and Dobby. He was over 2 meters long and had a massive pair of wings that were up and alert but not extended. He slowly approached Harry with a fierce glint in his eyes. Harry took a step forward holding his hands out showing he was not an enemy. He knew how proud griffins were and he willingly bowed his head. The griffin stopped pacing back in forth in front of Harry and paused to look him in the eye measuring him. Harry had an idea and hoped he was right about the connections between creatures of the light. He smiled at the griffin, popped into his phoenix form and sang a loud pleasing trill hoping to appease the griffins. Many of the griffins still back in the forest all seemed to stop growling. Harry stopped and hovered in front of the griffin that had approached him.

"_What are you Harry Potter? And how did you get here?_" Harry heard in his phoenix head. Harry remained hovering in front of the griffin, immensely pleased that the griffin was able to communicate. He tried to send back, "_I am a wizard, but I befriended and traded gifts with a phoenix who I now consider my brother. It was in his mind, that I saw this place and recognized it as the lost island of Atlantis._"

Harry was relieved to see the griffin understood. "_I can sense you are a wizard but you are not like any other wizard I've heard of. How is it that you can trade gifts with a phoenix?_"

"_It is a magic based on a willingness to accept another as family. And to love and protect each other as such. I do not understand it all myself, but I just felt it when I was near Fawkes, that's the name of my phoenix brother. Tell me, do you feel a connection with me? Because I have never seen a griffin before you but I feel like you could be my brother too._"

"_You are correct, Harry Potter. It is the will of magic that seems to have guided us together. I too feel something within you. I am not a creature who trusts easily, but the magic within me says to listen to what you have to say._"

"_Would you like to be my brother?"_

"_Yes, I would_."

Dobby was getting a bit nervous, but knew he could trust Harry. With a pop, the phoenix turned back into Harry, and he approached the large griffin. Harry put his hands on both sides of the griffin's head and the two stared deep into each other's eyes. With a swirl of magic they both lent forward and pressed their heads together. Back in the forest the griffins were getting a bit restless but had overheard the conversation and were not sure what to make of what was going on.

Harry smiled and said quietly "Archimedes." The griffin took a step back and his eagle body parts began melting and transforming away. He was turning into a part-human with a body of a lion. Archimedes was staring at his hands and flexing his fingers. He seemed fascinated and was poking his soft fleshy body in his chest and stomach where his body melted into lions flank and front legs. Harry smiled and laughed. "My brother, you look like what would happen if a centaur and an ugly sphinx mated."

A few other griffins took great offense to this remark and jumped out growling at Harry. Archimedes shifted back to his normal appearance and ordered them to be quiet. "_Settle down. My brother meant no offense by his remark._" Archimedes turned and smirked at Harry, "_besides he just doesn't know beauty when he sees it._" The griffins didn't look completely appeased by this but they were not going to harm Harry or Dobby for now. "_So come on, Harry, show these guys what you have got and we'll make introductions._"

Harry responded by jumping in the air and shifting with a loud crack into a black griffin every bit as large as Archimedes. He leant back, rose up on his hind legs, and let out a loud screech that seemed to shift into a roar of triumph. Harry could see all of the griffins had respect for him now.

Noticing Dobby's nervousness, he quickly popped back into his human form and walked over to his friend. "Dobby, I would like you to meet Archimedes, my new brother. Archimedes, this is my good friend Dobby." Dobby bowed and still blushed whenever Harry introduced him.

Archimedes shifted into his part human and said "Hello and welcome Dobby. Harry, if you don't mind translating for Dobby, allow me to introduce you to my friends." He shifted back to his normal griffin appearance and introduced his new brother Harry, and Harry's friend Dobby. There were over two dozen griffins there and Dobby and Harry politely bowed to each one. Harry was extremely pleased to have found another brother and to have made friends on the island he hoped would be their home.

The rest of the griffins took back off into separate parts of the forest leaving Harry, Dobby and Archimedes to discuss things about the island and its history. According to the griffins, Merlin had been here and built the large manor as a study and home. They had assumed the secret of their location was lost to wizards forever and hadn't had any visitors aside from phoenixes in over a millennium. Harry had shared his hopes of turning this island into a sanctuary for all magical creatures, particularly those most in danger from the wizarding world's war.

Archimedes informed him that the griffins knew some changes were coming and while some might be a bit selfish and not want to share, even the most reluctant would accept this. Opening your home to those in need and being respectful of others was a goal no one would oppose. Asking for help to defend someone else's home was not a battle they wished to be involved in but in terms of providing a safe haven and promoting tolerance quite a few griffins would be willing to assist in any way they could.

Harry explained his idea about creating some portals in places so that creatures could come to the island sanctuary. Archimedes offered to help stand guard at the end here on the island and to welcome and explain things to creatures coming here. Harry was quite proud of his new brother. Though he felt there was some higher power sort of controlling what he was doing, as there had been too many coincidences and easy solutions presenting themselves at opportune times, Harry seemed not to mind at all. It felt like his brothers and what he was now doing was what he was born to do.

Dobby decided the best thing he could do, would be to start cleaning up the place. It was what he knew best and enjoyed doing, so Harry encouraged him to, and said they would meet up for dinner and report their findings then. Harry and Archimedes began exploring the castle and discussing ideas for the future. The island was plenty big enough for a large number of different species and creatures including those that were natural enemies to each other. Feedings and hunting between predators and prey were natural but death for sport or intolerance of others would be met with at least banishment from the sanctuary or perhaps eye for an eye response if the case merited that.

Talking with Archimedes got Harry thinking more and more about his feelings towards wizards and naturally some wizards and witches in particular. He really didn't care if he saw them ever again. If he did, it wouldn't bother him horribly, but if he didn't he wouldn't give them a second's thought. The simplest understanding he had reached was in its most basic form, every moment in his life lately, given the choice between solitude and the presence of another human, he would prefer solitude. It wasn't worth opening yourself up to pain and betrayal when there's no reason he should have to. He wasn't going to say things like never, but he couldn't imagine in the foreseeable future preferring the company of someone over solitude, or the company of his magical brethren.

Archimedes alerted Harry he found a room he thought Harry would be interested in. Oh man was his brother right. There was a huge library that seemed completely layered and covered in protection charms. Harry could only gasp at the potential of this. This was Merlin's library. He may have even left some of his own journals around here. Scrolls and parchments filled a wall ten feet high. Quite a few bound volumes and books, more so than Harry would have expected, filled a few shelves. This was a complete goldmine of ancient information. No doubt Merlin had some relics from Atlantis recovered and protected here too.

Harry's musings were interrupted by the appearance of an extremely exhausted familiar looking owl. "Hedwig! Oh my god! I thought I'd never see you again. And you made the flight here, goodness girl you got some strength in those wings still."

Hedwig nodded and hooted happily landed on Harry's shoulder and just fell against his face hugging him with her wings. Harry began chuckling when he realized she had fallen asleep almost immediately pressed up against him. He carefully lifted her off his shoulder and carried her like a baby. Harry was overjoyed to see his first present ever and only friend over summers was alive and healthy. But Harry wasn't too sure how he felt about the letter attached to her leg.


	6. Connecting

**Disclaimer**: I own nothing; it all belongs to J.K.Rowling. I'm just borrowing the characters to play with for a while. This is for pleasure only, no profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.

**

* * *

CHAPTER FIVE – Connecting**

Harry quickly looked at the bottom to see just who it was that wrote to him, and reunited him with Hedwig. It was signed 'N. Tonks.' Harry thought it must have been hard for her to even write that 'N.' He decided to see what she had to say.

_Dear Harry,_

_I hear that you don't want contact from any wizards or witches, so do not fear I will not bother you again if you so wish. First I knew you would want to see Hedwig again. She has been a loyal friend to you, and even did me a few favors over the years. When you were incarcerated (God I'm sorry kid, I don't even know how I should refer to what I consider a travesty of justice equaled only by perhaps Sirius's lack of trial), well when you were _gone_, she went to Remus and he took good care of her. When Remus was killed, she came to me, and I was only too happy to help her out. You've got a great owl here. She's been missing you I could tell._

_I would say I'm sorry, and I am, but I don't deserve your consideration. And we don't deserve your help. But I'll be honest with you, from my little understanding of human psychology, completely distancing yourself from humans, is a beginning sign of depression. And I fear it will turn into a hatred of wizards and witches. And you're right, you deserve to live the life your parents wanted for you. I just wish you can temper yourself with some joy and happiness again. Anything you need from me, I will give you. After Sirius and Remus, I feel I can claim dibs as your closest honorary next of kin, and that means being there if you need anything ever. I screwed up a decade believing what I'd been told and living with the whole out of sight and out of mind attitude. I would like to see you, and if you so wish I am willing to submit any sorts of oaths of confidentiality or honor, hell I'll give you a submissive Witch's Oath if you want. Just don't let the incompetence of the rest of humanity keep you from having your own happiness. I'm not saying you should forgive any of the wizards and witches you've met, I just think you'd be happier if you could meet new wizards and witches and be open and willing to share with them. You know what I am. If we truly have a clean slate just tell me what face you'd rather see. Heck I can be your mum if you want, but I might need to review my psychology for that one._

_Sincerely,_

_N. Tonks_

Harry chuckled a little at the thought of Tonks turning into his mom. He had already decided he was going to see her. A second person aware of where Harry stood and informing the rest to leave him alone was going to be a good thing. And he'd like to thank her for taking care of Hedwig. Not to mention Harry was curious how he might respond to her. He felt a detachment to all other wizards and witches and did not care to see them. But even he was aware he still held some base instinctual lust. He didn't think he would care to see Tonks regularly but he was curious if he was going to get angry with her. Dumbledore is somewhat naturally infuriating so he was a bad barometer to judge how he would react to people. He had no fear or worry about meeting with Tonks but it would be a necessary tedious chore. Even he was a bit anxious to see what would happen.

Harry wrote her back.

_Dear Tonks,_

_I'm impressed you signed your note with an 'N'. Considering how much you liked your first name last time I saw you, that must have been trying for you. I will meet with you, if for nothing else than to assure I am doing fine and am happy. You're correct I don't particularly want to see or hear from anyone, but I was hoping a visit from me and you could better pass along that information to help prevent any future attempts to contact me. I haven't yet set up anti-owl wards where I'm making my new home so Hedwig was able to find me (although with her I don't think they would have stopped her), but I fear if many other owls tried they would not be able to make the trip. Hedwig barely made it to my shoulder and passed out against my face. It was quite heartwarming to know she's been there for me._

_In my ideal world, you would all forget I ever existed, but I know that's simply not possible. I have some business to do in Diagon Alley tomorrow among other places. Perhaps we could meet up around noon in front of Gringotts? I'll bring some lunch, so we can have some privacy and talk. If you can't make it, I'll find you sometime soon._

_Sincerely,_

_Harry_

_P.S. – Please don't look like my mum. I have enough issues as it is._

Harry sealed the note and turned into his phoenix form. He grabbed the note in his talon and fire-flashed his way to Grimmauld Place. He was glad his gut was right, and sure enough it seemed Tonks had made this her home once Sirius's will had been read, and Remus booted the Order from it. He dropped the note in front of Tonks, saw she had a deeply saddened look on her face, and sang out a few trills. She didn't appear any happier, but perhaps a bit bittersweet. He fire-flashed back to his new home.

Harry met back up with Archimedes and Dobby and they gave each other progress reports. Archimedes informed him the griffins seemed more receptive than he had even expected and were looking forward to sharing their own private island with a variety of magical creatures. They agreed that the presence of wizards would be best left up to Archimedes' brother, as they shared a similar opinion of humanity that Harry had. Dobby had cleaned up several of the bedrooms, and on Harry's insistence had claimed the second largest one as his own. It was right next door to what was clearly the master bedroom that was going to be Harry's. The room they designated the kitchen had been cleaned, and cooling charmed cabinets had been set-up by Dobby. Dobby apparently had tried to use his house-elf magic and pop all the way to a house elf friendly store to pick up some food and groceries, but it had completely tired him out. He managed to pop back to the sanctuary and then needed a nap. He asked if they could come up with a better system for transportation. He could pop if he needed to, but it wasn't a very good idea considering how taxing it is on him. They had already decided the portals were going to be priority and Dobby would be able to use those freely.

Harry offered to get them a muggle meal for dinner tonight and they could plan where to put the portals. Harry fire-flashed into London and picked up a pizza for them. He was curious to see how his two friends at home would respond to it. He really liked the idea that that was his home. He had a home now. And he had a great friend in Dobby and two brothers now in Archimedes and Fawkes.

Archimedes was in his human form and found pizza was not a taste he was particularly fond of. Dobby on the other hand thought it was wonderful. In their discussions, Dobby suggested an ideal location for a portal. One of the properties Harry now owned was the Shrieking Shack. A location they could control right near Hogsmeade, Hogwarts, and the Forbidden Forest. Harry informed them he was going to talk with Ragnok tomorrow about spreading the word, and suggestions for where to put portals. He was also going to meet up with Tonks. Archimedes and Dobby were a bit surprised that Harry was visiting with a witch so soon. Both seemed to think Harry was more forgiving than he let on or perhaps wanted to be, but neither Dobby nor Archimedes was going to try and push Harry to either befriend more wizards or avoid them as much as possible. His interaction with others was his business, and they knew that they could provide him all the grounding, caring, and trust through just creatures if he never again talked to any wizards.

Archimedes went back into the forest as apparently the stone floor isn't as soft as the foliage in the surrounding areas. Dobby wished Harry a good night and Harry doubled checked his necessary spells for the portals. He thought it might be better to use a wand, so he went in search through some of the heirlooms. He found a red stained cherry wand that really seemed to like Harry's touch and gave it a few practice twirls. Golden sparks shot out and turned into miniature griffins and phoenixes of light. Yeah this was going to be a real good wand. He briefly wondered if his first wand had been snapped as is usual with convicted criminals, or perhaps it represented to useful a tool in a duel with Voldemort. He might have liked having it again, but it wouldn't be worth the trouble of conversing again with Albus.

The next morning Harry cast a portal next to a large tree just east of the castle. This one didn't need to have the Wizard notice-me-not charms or repelling wards he was going to put on all the others. He thought he might need to put a few more portals around the island, at the very least one in one of the larger lakes for aquatic life forms. But he would put those off until later, as he figured he might be modifying them a bit once they saw how they could be used most effectively.

He informed Dobby and Archimedes where he was going and left for a muggle delicatessen. He got some quick sandwiches, a couple bags of crisps, and some bottled water and sodas. When no one was looking he shrunk them all and put preservation charms on them and stuffed them in his pocket. He arrived at Gringotts and before he could say anything Griphook smiled and exclaimed "Welcome back. You are looking quite well."

Harry smiled. "Thank you Griphook. I was wondering if Ragnok had some time to speak with me. Perhaps you could join us if it's okay with him."

Griphook began leading him back to Ragnok's office and said "I would be delighted if I could help you in any way." He knocked the same special pattern on his door and ushered him in.

Harry bowed and began in Gobbledegook. "Greetings Ragnok. If you have time I was hoping to discuss some things with you and Griphook as well, if you don't mind."

Ragnok smiled and responded in English. "Welcome to you to Harry. My door is always open to you. Griphook may join us certainly. How goes your personal project?"

"Wonderfully. The amount of progress already should astound you." Harry said with a smile.

"Really? After just a day? So where are you at now, and what can we do to help?" Ragnok asked.

"Well, I haven't actually completely toured the whole island, but we are set to open our doors to any in need. I installed the first portal to what I'm dubbing as 'Sanctuary' to facilitate travel to the island."

"Great Gulgameth, you do work fast don't you?"

"Well, the biggest assistance was that it seems the only real intelligent creatures already on the island were a few dozen griffins. I managed to gain the leader of sorts as a brother, and he's going to be acting as an unofficial ambassador to welcome beings to the island, and designate areas to specific species if they wish."

Griphook and Ragnok both had shocked eyes and were silent for a second. Ragnok caught himself first and said "You took over some griffin's home and they're willingly accepting this? How on earth did you find such an island and where is it, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Well I guess you might be able to put it that way, but the griffins were actually quite welcoming to the idea. It seems they sensed something like this coming in the magic. As to where it is…well, can you guys keep a secret?"

Griphook responded. "Absolutely, Harry. Nothing you say will leave this room if you wish."

"Alright. Well let's just say, Atlantis isn't as far down at the bottom of the ocean as some people seem to think." Harry said with a playful smirk.

Ragnok just snorted and had to cover his mouth. "I hope you will allow me to visit some time. I'd be very interested to just feel the magic around that place."

"Absolutely Ragnok. Actually one of the things I wanted to talk to you about was to first ask that you spread the word in whatever form you had offered to. And secondly determine where the best places are to put in portals so that beings and creatures can get to them easily. I noticed I own the Shrieking Shack and thought that would be a good location to start. But I wondered if it would be worthwhile, if you wanted to setup a portal at Gringotts. Goblins will always be welcome there, but I didn't know how attractive it might be seeing as there's not a lot of profits to be made there."

Ragnok smiled victoriously. "We goblins certainly appreciate our gold, but there is a bit more than just that to us. I'd be honored to host a portal here. It would be quite easy to secure and control access and offer a quick outlet to the Alley as well."

Griphook added "I know I would love to see Sanctuary. Are there any guidelines governing which species to admit or deny? For example, vampires and werewolves are both very wizard-like in their existences, and I wouldn't want to impose on the rest of the inhabitants there."

Harry shook his head. "I'd really prefer as few restrictions as possible. Werewolves can be normal wizards most of the time, but they are just as persecuted as the rest of the creatures. I think we should allow any that are willing to abide by the general rules of Sanctuary. Though a ready supply of Wolfsbane would be a good idea. Perhaps even a secrecy charm on the portals to prevent their discussion outside of the island."

Ragnok added "I think this sounds more and more like a private utopia. And it should be safe. We won't be able to keep its existence quiet for very long I suspect though. Wizards will notice them missing."

Harry agreed. "Yeah, I realize that. I'm hoping this being a viable alternative may make some of them dissolve their alliances with the opposing factions in the wizarding war and it will be obvious then. I was planning to approach some of the giants in the next few weeks, and I believe most of them have allied with Voldemort. The longer we can maintain secrecy about it and easily regulate the portals the safer it will be. Once we get it established, it will make it a tantalizing target to both sides. But by then it would be madness if either were foolish enough to attack."

"Even if you were not there, there are many fierce creatures that would band together to protect and preserve their homes. I hope you are prepared for what you've undertaken here." Ragnok said. "I think you will get a very large immediate response from many species. If word were spread that it was Atlantis, it would be even worse." He finished with a chuckle.

"I think we should be okay, simply because we'll all have the same mindset about wanting Sanctuary to be a safe haven and home. But anyways, I'm meeting with a witch, hmm I almost called her a friend. Still unsure how I feel about humanity. Sorry, I'm meeting with a witch in about fifteen minutes. Shall I setup the initial portal somewhere quickly here? It acts as just a sort of doorway you walk through and end up on the island. Wizard Notice-me-Not charms, repelling wards, and I think that secrecy charm for now will be the main additional spells. Or would you prefer me coming back once you have a designated area?"

"Why don't you come back later and do it. We'll have a special room designated and prepared, and perhaps you could give me and Griphook a brief tour of the island after you make the portal?" Ragnok asked with a smile.

Harry nodded. "Sure, sounds like a plan."

Griphook added, "Giving us a little time also may allow us to come up with more spells to put on the portal if we can think of any necessary or useful other ones."

"Well gentlemen, or gentlegoblins if you prefer, it's been a pleasure. I'll come on by after meeting with Tonks, and I think I may setup the portal at the Shrieking Shack before returning as well. Apparently the distance to 'pop' for Dobby is such that it tires him out and that will make for a useful exit point even if we don't make that one known initially."

"Good afternoon Harry." Ragnok said and Griphook led Harry back out into the foyer.

Harry walked out of Gringotts and spotted a young looking girl with pink hair sitting on the steps. "Hello Tonks."


	7. Uncertainty

**Disclaimer**: I own nothing; it all belongs to J.K.Rowling. I'm just borrowing the characters to play with for a while. This is for pleasure only, no profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.

**

* * *

CHAPTER SIX – Uncertainty**

Tonks looked up and saw a quite fit looking attractive young man. A twenty-six year old, who had already spent ten years in prison, he didn't look the part at all. "Wow Harry, you look great." She seemed to want to jump up and hug him but restrained herself.

"How about a little picnic by the Hogwarts Lake and we can talk there?"

Tonks looked a little unsure, "Alright." And Harry reached out and took her hand and apparated them right near the lake facing towards the castle.

"Wow kid. You really don't care about apparition wards do you?"

Harry smiled "They make it more fun because others do care about them."

Tonks voiced her uncertainty, "You sure this is the best place to do this? I wouldn't want Dumbledore to know you're here and come harass you any."

"Don't worry about it. He seemed pretty receptive to me yesterday. And even still, Hogwarts won't let him know we're here unless I tell her too. She's pretty good about keeping secrets." Harry said before adding "Chambers of them in fact."

Tonks seemed to be relaxing some but seemed unsure how to begin or what to say. "So um, I don't know where to start. Do you want an oath to assure you I mean you no harm here?"

"You're fine Tonks. Just do me a favor and avoid all the apologies for now. Not sure I'll ever want to hear those."

"Can do. So you're looking ridiculously healthy. How are you doing? Or adjusting for that matter?"

"Immensely better than even I could have hoped or expected. I've been out for just over a day, and I've got a great friend as a roommate, a new home, two new brothers, and I'm actually doing some good. And doing that good provides me with a long and fulfilling future."

"Geez. You seem perfectly sane, but that all sounds a bit hard to believe. Mind expanding on some of that? For instance, _brothers_. Umm what?"

"Okay, sure. I'm guessing Albus had an Order meeting last night. Did he mention the connection between Fawkes and me?" Tonks nodded and Harry continued. "We've adopted each other as brothers of a sort. And Archimedes, a pretty amazing griffin I met yesterday, also became my brother. We will look out for each other and help out each other when we can."

"You met a griffin! I thought they hated wizards. Oh, ohhhhh."

Harry laughed. "I don't hate wizards Tonks, and neither do most griffins. There just not big fans of the majority of them. I suppose I do have that in common with them. Could be why we hit it off so easily."

"You mentioned you're doing some good for a long and fulfilling future. Do you mind me asking what that is?"

Harry winced a bit. "Don't be afraid to ask Tonks. Just don't be too upset if I choose not to answer. And I'm not sure I'm ready to share this with you yet."

Tonks smiled. "Fair enough. New home though? Nice place?"

Harry smiled back this time. "It's pretty amazing. Imagine your own private Hogwarts with the Forbidden Forest on all sides. I think it's going to be great."

Harry's stomach felt like speaking up now and let out a gurgle. "Crud Tonks, I completely forgot to break out the food I brought." He enlarged the sandwiches, crisps, and drinks and offered Tonks first pick at what she wanted. "If it's not enough, I'm sure we could get a house elf to bring us some more too."

"Naw, this is great. I mean I'm not exactly here for the food. But you seem genuinely happy Harry."

"Probably because I am."

"You think we could do this again? I'm not exactly a very big fan of all the wizards and witches I know right now either."

"They all think I'm evil and dark still? Sheesh, I was hoping staying in prison willingly would allay their fears and they would eventually forget about me."

"Nope. There's a whole lot of flipping idiots in the world. Some of them were saying it shouldn't count as prison when you weren't being forced to stay there. Looked like Dumbledore was getting as annoyed with the majority of them as I was."

"Hmm. Well I'm happy to say that it's not my problem."

"I got to say Harry, my common sense tells me, that stopping caring at all is not a solution to your problem, for lack of a better term. But so far, it suits you."

"It is quite freeing. You should try it some time." Harry smiled at her. "Although I think you're pigeonholing me a bit there. I merely stopped caring for wizards and witches. It'd be like you deciding to stop caring about troll leg umbrella stands. But on a slightly larger scale."

"Oh man Moony and I had fun with that thing! We took turns bashing it into my grand old Great Aunt's portrait before we hit it with a freezing charm and tethered it the ceiling. Grabbed some fireplace pokers and pretended it was a piñata."

Harry laughed. "I bet you two enjoyed that." Harry paused and asked, "Did you here about Remus's death?"

Tonks got a sad smile. "Snape told us his neck had been burned severely, most likely from silver. We never found his body though. Pettigrew wasn't heard from after that either, so I like to think Moony got him."

Harry got a bit of an evil smile. "Oh he did. Moony died with a smile on his face and a bit off rat's head in his mouth. His life may have had a lot of lows but I couldn't have been prouder of his death."

Tonks choked. "You're kidding!"

"Nope. Saw it through old Tom's eyes myself. One of the things we both quite enjoyed."

Tonks eyes widened as she realized what Harry's imprisonment was like. "God. Well, that makes me feel a bit better actually. I've missed him a lot. Don't really have too many friends these days."

"Well maybe you just haven't met the right griffin yet Tonks,"

Tonks laughed. "Can't argue with that logic."

Harry paused and was looking at the lake. "Well Tonks, this has been a lot better than I feared it might be, but I have a couple things I have to do today."

"Yeah it has been nice. Umm, you think we can do this again? Forget the rest of the wizards and witches in the world. It's nice just seeing you. Especially seeing you smile."

Harry tilted his head and looked at Tonks like he was measuring her. "If you promise to keep this to yourself, you can come with me for at least the first errand."

"Yeah, that'd be great. I took the whole day off as soon as I got your letter."

"Well then let's go visit one of my properties. And I may take you up on an oath of confidentiality for this. I need some things to stay as quiet as possible to protect a little project for as long as possible."

"Be happy to. You just gonna tug me along in apparition again or … oh nevermind." She finished saying after Harry had apparated them both. "So where are we?"

"This, Tonks, is the Shrieking Shack. Moony or Padfoot ever tell you about this place?"

"Nope. Not to my knowledge. Heard it was haunted though."

Harry explained its history while he looked around outside for a good place.

"Wow. You got some very interesting memories of places. Mixes of fantastic and horrible it seems. And what are you looking for?"

"Yeah those two types seem to go hand in hand for me. And I'm trying to decide the best place around here to setup a portal. I'm thinking that tree over there is the most logical landmark."

"Where's the portal go to?"

"My new home. And let's leave it at that for now."

Harry cast the portal spell, Wizard Notice-Me-Not charms, repelling wards and a secrecy charm. He had to grab Tonks and bring her back as it seemed the repelling wards kicked in right away. "Do me a favor Tonks. Wait here for just a minute or two. I'm going to test the portal and be right back."

Harry popped through the portal and ended up by the tree near his new home. Archimedes noticed Harry and came up "Back already?"

"Just testing the first portal. Hey,I've actually had a good time with Tonks. Would I be a horrible hypocrite if I gave her a tour here? She's been quite nice to have around and she treats me like she always used to. It's not what I expected but seems to be cathartic for me."

"Harry, this is your baby you're making here. You're the one with a bit of intolerance towards magical beings wanting to escape from the war by excluding witches and wizards. It is true they are a special case and I will agree with whatever you want, but don't let your stubbornness overrule your common sense. There's little enough of that as it is."

"Geez thanks Archie. You flatter me too much." Archimedes growled at the nickname. "Just be sure you can trust her. That seems to be the sticking point for most things as they pertain to you."

"Thanks for reminding me! She offered to do an oath of confidentiality. Anyways, I've left her waiting and the repelling wards might have driven her halfway to Hogsmeade by now. I may or may not bring her. Not sure yet. See ya later." And with that Harry hopped back through the portal.

Harry came out and saw Tonks staring intently at the Shrieking Shack. She heard Harry return and said, "Can't really look at that portal you made without wanting to leave."

"Give me that Oath and I'll fix that for you." Tonks took her wand and obliged. And Harry keyed her to be ignored by the portals protections.

"So what took you so long? You were gone for a couple minutes there."

"Oh, talked briefly with Archimedes. Just needed to give him an opportunity to insult my common sense and call me stubborn."

"Hey! That's just like a regular brother."

"Since I've got you locked into confidentiality for now, you want to come with me for another one of these errands? If you behave you can join a couple of my other new friends in a tour of the new pad."

Tonks smiled brightly. "I would love to. Where we headed now?"

Harry grabbed her hand and apparated them back to where they met. "Back to Gringotts." The pair walked in and towards Griphook.

"Oh yeah. At the meeting they mentioned a rumor you were speaking Gobbledegook."

Harry smiled at her and said something she did not recognize in Gobbledegook. "Alright smart guy, what the heck did you just say?"

Griphook walked up to him and said "I believe it was something along the lines of 'But of course Nymphadora.'"

Tonks seemed to take offense at this and gave Harry an angry scowl.

"Tonks, I would like you to meet my friend Griphook. Griphook, this is Tonks. And if it is not a problem, I was hoping she could join us today."

Griphook looked at Tonks and pursed his lips. "You sure you trust her?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "Yes Dad. Got an Oath from her and everything."

Griphook just started grumbling some curses in a mixture of Gobbledegook and English and led them back to Ragnok's office.

Harry told Tonks to follow them, and they arrived in Ragnok's office again. "Harry, I see you have brought another friend. Will she be joining us?"

"If it's not too much trouble I was hoping she could."

Ragnok held out his hand, and Griphook reluctantly dug out some money and gave it to him. Harry looked a bit indignant. "You bet on me already? Why do all my friends know me better than I know myself?" Griphook grumbled at that. "Oh except for you Griphook. We're equally clueless about me." Harry flashed Griphook a thumbs up. Tonks just took this whole byplay with a look of shock and amusement.

"Oh, I'm sorry guys, Tonks, this is Ragnok. Ragnok, Tonks." They exchanged bows and pleasantries.

"Are there any subjects we should avoid discussing Harry?" Ragnok asked with a raised eyebrow.

Harry shook his head. "Naw, we should be fine. With the Oath she gave me, anything we'd rather she didn't know she won't be able to talk about anyway. And I don't think there's anything we need to keep from her. Though she knows nothing yet. Just that we're going to set up a portal and I'm giving you guys a tour of my new home."

Tonks seemed to be getting confused as to why all the secrecy for this but figured she'd get her answers as they went.

"Alright, we've set up a room for the portal, this way we can apply additional security to the room without needing your assistance to modify the portal. Follow me. I am quite eager to 'get the tour'."

The four went into a private room a bit closer to the lobby, and Harry cast his spells again. Harry tested it by hopping through, yelled to let Archimedes know who was coming, and went right back through it.

"Looks good guys. Just follow me." Harry said.

Harry went first, Tonks followed, and Griphook and Ragnok came through last. The three visitors felt the magic in the air simply singing to them, as well as the massive griffin staring right at them. All of them gasped as the griffin shifted form into a part-human and said "Welcome to Sanctuary."


	8. Beginning

**Disclaimer**: I own nothing; it all belongs to J.K.Rowling. I'm just borrowing the characters to play with for a while. This is for pleasure only, no profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.

**

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CHAPTER SEVEN – Beginning**

"Archimedes, I would like you to meet Tonks, Griphook, and Ragnok. Ragnok, Griphook, and Tonks this is my brother Archimedes."

Archimedes bowed slightly and said "Greetings Ragnok." He bowed again at Griphook and reiterated "Greetings Griphook." He stopped in front of Tonks, sized her up and sniffed the air, and turned to Harry "Yes, yes. You've picked an adequate mate Harry."

"Oh crikey," Harry said with a bowed head while Tonks just blushed. After a brief moment Archimedes, Griphook and Ragnok started laughing at Harry. Ragnok managed to add "I like your brother Harry."

Once they were more composed, Archimedes apologized to Tonks and "Sorry about that Tonks. My brother gave me a bit of playfulness that I think he inherited from another of his brothers. It is nice to see Harry unafraid to smile in the presence of a witch."

"Yeah yeah yeah, I'm just a big softy. Though I doubt there's too many other witches or wizards I could stomach at the moment."

Tonks was hoping this more jovial Harry would stick around for a while. "I'd like to think I'm not your run of the mill average Jane witch. So what is this place Harry? I see what you mean about your own private Hogwarts. The magic is really strong around here."

"Well, I'll give you the brief synopsis of Sanctuary here, and anyone else, please jump in and correct me. My hopes are for this to offer a save haven and alternative to any magical creatures or species that are suffering due to either inept prejudiced wizards or even just innocent bystanders to the wizarding world's war. We are sharing this island to make it a collective home, where tolerance is the name of the game. The portals you saw me set up are to allow transport to the island as it is otherwise quite hard to reach. There's very little that needs to be done other than to spread the word to the magical races and let them know there is an alternative. I'm hoping some of those who feel forced to ally themselves with wizards to survive will recognize it doesn't have to be that way. Ragnok and the goblins seem to be quite supportive of the idea. And Archimedes and the griffins have welcomed me and the idea with open arms. If anyone had rights to this island it would be them, but they're willing to share their home and assist in the settling of beings coming here."

Tonks had wide eyes and a bright smile. "You don't do things by half do you?"

Harry blushed a bit and all his friends were smiling at him. "My time in prison made me recognize it was the attitude and state of the wizarding world that has brought all of this onto the magical world. I haven't mentioned this to any of you, but while I was in there, I'm pretty sure Magic herself was communicating with me. It's how many aspects of magic became completely instinctual to me. Like Gobbledegook or how to gain family. I cannot say I learned it, I just know it."

Archimedes spoke up "Within minutes of meeting my brother I felt a connection to him. It is true some most primal force of magic is driving us to do this. The griffins would never have normally been so welcoming." He added with a smirk, "Particularly to a _wizard_."

Griphook spoke up with a smile, "The goblins merely go where the going is good." Ragnok chuckled and nodded at this assessment.

Dobby came out and joined them. "Hello Harry, Ragnok, Griphook, Archimedes. Miss Tonks, it is good to see you again." He finished with a small bow.

"Hiya Dobby." Tonks smiled and was still a bit in awe at the sheer scale of this 'little project' of Harry's. "So did you just discover this place or was it planned out? Well 'planned' doesn't seem right considering how quickly it's been coming together."

Harry spoke up "You know, the more I think about it, the more I think we might just be continuing on something the previous tenant knew would be coming eventually. In fact he might have been the one to bring the island back up. I should probably spend some time reading and find out."

"The previous tenant?" Tonks asked with a raised eyebrow.

Harry got a mischievous smile. "Yeah this real old wizard guy. Pretty sure he's got his own chocolate frog-"

Griphook interrupted "He's got three." Everyone gave him a curious look and Griphook was blushing.

"Okay three. But he didn't call this place Sanctuary. He called it Avalon."

Tonks exclaimed "Merlin! You mean…err Merlin?"

"Yup. I recognized it in Fawkes memories as Atlantis. Hence the feeling of magic in the air."

Tonks sat down trying to process all that was going on here. The others were giving her a moment and smiling to themselves. Ragnok, Griphook, Dobby, and Archimedes were all quite glad to see Harry sharing so much.

Tonks looked up at Harry with tears in her eyes. "Here I thought you were just pissed at the world, and righteously venting a little anger by leaving the wizarding world. But all you're doing is looking past our society's short-sightedness and improving the whole magical world. Harry..." She was sniffling a bit here, "Harry, that's just wonderful and beautiful and amazing and everything that's right in the world."

Harry was blushing immensely but it seemed all his friends saw his project in a similar light. "Yeah well maybe I am just doing it piss off the wizarding world. Anyways, I still owe you three a tour of the manor at least."

A few audible scoffs and they followed Harry and Dobby as they showed off their home to Ragnok, Griphook, and Tonks.

"Hey Tonks, you mind refreshing that oath just in case? I wasn't planning on telling you everything like I have, and it'd be better for all involved to keep this from either side of the warring factions for now."

Tonks readily agreed and recast the oath. The six of them all sat outside and ate dinner further discussing plans and ideas to help build up Sanctuary. Harry informed them he was going to spend the next few days securing the island and casting all the wards they needed.

Harry escorted Tonks, Ragnok, and Griphook back through the portal to Gringotts. Ragnok and Griphook informed Tonks she only needed to talk to them and they would allow her passage through the portal in Gringotts. She understood Harry had a lot of work to do, and she would get in the way. She let Harry know, as soon as he said the word, she would gladly leave the wizarding world, and assist him in any way he wanted. Harry told her he hadn't planned on bringing in wizards or witches to the project yet, but once he felt others would be comfortable enough with it, he expected he would welcome her and offer her a room in the manor. She could tell it wasn't the others who would be unsure, it was Harry still adjusting. But before she said goodbye she did finagle her way into the hug she'd been wanting.

Harry made his way back to the manor feeling surprisingly good. He really thought he would hate being around Tonks, but he wasn't going to lie to himself. He had a really good day. And he got a very positive response from his friends helping to reassure him what they were doing was right.

The next few days Harry spent researching the scrolls Merlin had left as well as studying some books on warding. He and Dobby had completely unpacked the trunks and the massive manor felt a lot more like a personable home. He hung up the portraits and managed to awaken Godric Gryffindor and Helga Hufflepuff. He decided to put up William Potter's portrait as well and conversed with the three of them. Harry was hoping William might have been a closer relative, but apparently he probably had a dozen 'greats' before his relationship of uncle or grandfather. He was born in 1630, and taught Charms and Defense at Hogwarts for 40 years. He was quite a character and had no other portraits. He discovered the Potters were the most direct line to the two founders. None of them were sure if they were the only ones left, but it was definitely a possibility. He also found that the cherry wand he had been using was in fact Godric's and from what they knew, no one else had been compatible enough with it to use it. Harry had found out enough things like this, that he wasn't even surprised though he did take some pride in his ancestors. Godric and Helga were ecstatic to hear about Harry's relationship with Hogwarts and greatly pleased he was ready to protect her.

Having heard Harry's explanation of his life story, none of them found any fault in his reasoning to abandon the wizarding world. Though Harry was a bit annoyed they kept calling it temporary. After discussing the plans for the island and the wards, in which Godric's assistance was very helpful, Harry set out to refresh and renew all the existing wards before adding new ones of his own. The island was protected against apparition, portkeys, and was unplottable. Given the size and quantity of magics required for this, Harry then took a 36 hour nap.

It had been about five days since he saw Griphook, Ragnok, or Tonks. So today he was going to check up on them, as well as approach some of the creatures in the Forbidden Forest, and time permitting some of Voldemort's allies.

Harry took the portal to Gringotts, and Griphook immediately joined him in the room and welcomed him back. They met up with Ragnok in his office.

"Welcome Harry. So far the response has been quite positive. We met with some of the oldest clans of vampires and they didn't feel it was necessary for them to move, but they were supportive of what we were doing and have been passing along the word to magical creatures and species all over. I didn't want to start shuffling beings through until we knew Sanctuary was ready for them."

"Wards and everything we need are humming nicely now. Archimedes is beginning to get eager to see some new faces I think. I was planning on going to Hogwarts first and approaching them myself. Is there anything you need from me to get started?"

Ragnok looked pensive. "If you would be willing, it would be nice to set up these portals in other places around the world. Gringotts is willing to host them, if you wouldn't mind putting them in a few places. I know some banshees in Romania were looking to relocate, as well as almost all the veela in France. Putting portals in those two places would help immensely. The veela were hoping to meet with you themselves if you don't mind. Perhaps you could talk to some creatures in the Forbidden Forest and I could arrange a meeting at the Paris branch of Gringotts. You could set up the portal there at the time too. If you're up for it and willing we could then go to Bucharest and do the same."

Harry nodded with smile. "Sounds like a plan. How about I make it back here by 4:00? That work for you?"

"Perfect. Good luck in the Forest."

And so Harry apparated to Hogwarts, thankful he could try and get all this done while it's still summer before school started back up. First stop would be the merfolk. Casting a bubblehead charm, he plunged on down to the bottom of the lake. He introduced himself to the merchieftain and explained what he was offering. They were very receptive to the idea, but for now were happy in their current location. No one had been attempting to attack them or ally with them, and that suited them just fine. They did indicate a few bodies of water where there would likely be merfolk that would want to take advantage of this opportunity and Harry made a plan to visit them. The merfolk here asked if it would be possible to have a portal set up in case they were attacked though, as it seemed they feared an attack at Hogwarts was inevitable. So far Voldemort had tried a few frontal attacks but had yet to succeed. Harry agreed but wasn't going to do it yet, as he hadn't put in a receiving portal into a body of water yet. He told them he was planning to set one up, as soon as there were aquatic beings making a new home at Sanctuary, so that someone could act as the sort of ambassador to it. Pleased with the information and response Harry moved on to the centaurs next.

Bane was every bit as kind as he had always been to Harry. Bluntness aside, he did listen to what Harry had to offer, appreciated the sentiment, but found no reason to relocate. After some discussion Harry discovered they herd had splintered into rival herds. They weren't at war with each other, but Firenze's presence was not welcome with many of the elders. Harry tracked the down other herd after some directions from Ronan, and met up with Magorian and Firenze. They were far more interested in the idea of Sanctuary and agreed to relocating. Harry informed them he was going to go talk to the acromantulas, but that if they wanted to collect their things, he would come by on his way back and lead them to the portal and their new home. He informed them portal was nearby, and naturally they would be free to leave if they found Sanctuary unsatisfactory. Readily agreeing, Magorian sought out the other herd to inform them of their departure while Harry headed towards where he knew Aragog to be.

Harry was quite confused. Aragog seemed kind and friendly with Harry and welcomed him with open arms, or at least pinchers, and gladly heard out what Harry had to say. Apparently Aragog seemed to have a similar opinion as Bane, but knew that his nest was huge and many of them may want to go with Harry. So it was a large crowd of acromantulas were following a large black griffin quickly through the forest. The centaurs coming with joined the pack and Harry showed them the portal hidden behind the Shrieking Shack. Harry went through first, and the other creatures began following through. The centaurs appeared to let all the acromantulas through first. Archimedes was quite happy to see different magical species coming together for the most simplistic common cause: a safe home. A griffin whose name Harry ashamedly couldn't remember led the acromantulas through some dense forest, most likely until they found somewhere they wanted to call their home. Archimedes took the lead with centaurs who were shocked at his odd appearance. They quickly took to him as a friend and honorary centaur given his appearance. Harry left them to it, and went back to Gringotts to meet up with Ragnok again.


	9. Expansion

**Disclaimer**: I own nothing; it all belongs to J.K.Rowling. I'm just borrowing the characters to play with for a while. This is for pleasure only, no profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.

**

* * *

CHAPTER EIGHT – Expansion**

"All set Harry?'

Harry nodded and took a portkey with Ragnok. Griphook was staying behind this time. Meeting with the veela was surprisingly easy for Harry. He worried their charm would affect him, but either he was able to resist it easily, or more likely they were able to suppress it. A few questions with him and it seemed they had appreciated what he was doing. They wanted to be sure they would be able to return back and forth, as a lot of the veela wanted to remain in parts of the wizarding world. With Harry's assurance it was merely a home, not a separate prison they followed Harry into the portal he had just freshly installed. They scouted out an area, and begin to lay the foundations for new homes. The veela were the first ones most similar to wizards in that they wanted to live in buildings rather than a specific sort of forest or natural habitat. With a little of Harry's assistance they begin using their magic to develop structures and had the appearance of homes showing. With funds and a little hard work they would be all set in their own neighborhood within a few weeks.

A similar meeting was held with the banshees and a portal was installed at the Gringotts in Bucharest. The banshees chose higher ground on Sanctuary, and created their own caves to move into. Word apparently had been spreading, and there were several independent werewolves that had joined up and were very helpful in building homes for those wanting them. Sanctuary was really coming together and working as Harry and his friends had envisioned it would. Archimedes was quite happy to be helpful to just about all the creatures and felt a bit of pride that so many looked to him for guidance and assistance.

The community was thriving, and with a full moon coming, Harry realized he needed to pay a visit to Ragnok and Tonks, and ask for a couple favors.

Tonks arrived home and saw a familiar looking phoenix. She'd wanted to hear from Harry for a while now, but didn't want to just show up without being invited.

She smiled at the phoenix. "Hey there girl! What no note for me this time?"

Harry jumped into the air and trilled out a bit of song for her. Tonks felt a feeling of security fill her. It wasn't quite the same as a normal phoenix's song, but it was better than last time. The phoenix popped into Harry, and he said with a smile "Girl?"

"Harry!" She grabbed him in a hug. "Oh it's good to see you again. I was worried something happened or maybe you hated me again."

Harry winced a bit. "Nope sorry. No hatred here. I've just been busy."

"Oh yeah? Your ickle little project taking some of your precious free time?"

"Yeah. It's really coming together. Got some merfolk in one of the biggest lakes, as well as so far, umm, let's see how much of this I can remember: some centaurs, acromantulas, veela, banshees, some dragons just showed up, flew there apparently, more phoenixes, yeti, a few rogue giants, the goblins have been working on their home, a few werewolves are helping out a lot in construction, some trolls, hippogriffs, including Buckbeak, vampires have visited and helped but I don't think any are considering it their home, a whole flock of occamy, a couple of sphinxes, one I hear has a habit of guarding one of the banshees caves and annoying them a bit, hehe, a few different serpents I didn't even recognize, and even a nundu so far. I'm probably forgetting some, but the response has been pretty overwhelming. The griffins are like the apartment managers helping everyone out and mainly keeping the trolls from wandering away."

"Holy Merlin Harry, you have been busy."

"Yup, and if you're willing I've got a couple things I was hoping you might look into for me."

"Sure. What do you need?"

"Actually, I just remembered, Ragnok knows Potions Masters who will make and sell us the Wolfsbane, so I guess it's just one thing. I was hoping you could go on down to the Ministry, and inquire about any house-elves for sale. I know not to expect any as independent and free as Dobby, but the most forward thinking ones I think we should buy. Or any that have been abused. I'll bond them to me, if they need it, and Dobby said he'd bond some to him too, as apparently he can act as an elder house elf. I'm sure we could use the assistance now, and they wouldn't feel useless. And perhaps seeing the whole community and tolerance of Sanctuary might change a few of their minds."

"Not a problem. I'd be happy to. How many you think we should start with?"

"Well, it depends on how they react to you I suppose. But if they seem open to the idea, why not all of them?"

Tonks laughed. "I half expected you to say that."

Harry smiled. "You know me too well it seems."

Tonks frowned a bit. "This is most definitely going to be noticed by the Ministry. And my dad's a muggle, so I'm going to have to buy them in your name."

Harry handed her a key, "I know. This is a key to a Sanctuary account that's been set up at Gringotts. Should have more than sufficient funds, though the goblins are watching it a bit closer than most accounts. Unless there are some elves you think will be problems, try and get them all. Take them to Gringotts, and Griphook will help you bring them to Sanctuary."

"Alright. I know you could do this, so I appreciate you giving me the opportunity. Will I get to see you at Sanctuary for a bit?"

"I shouldn't be too long. I'm going to go have a friendly with a few giants and vampires."

"Alright Harry. I'll see you tonight." Tonks said with a bright smile.

Harry apparated with a pop and reappeared near a camp outside of Little Hangleton. Today was a day that may alienate him even further from both sides in the wizarding world's war. Harry transformed into a phoenix and used his senses to locate the giants first. Harry determined who the giant leader was and approached him. He explained his offer and what Sanctuary was. It appeared the giants were getting quite unhappy with Tom. It took very little for them to believe Harry and want to go. Hearing about other giants already choosing to go there seemed a very enticing selling point. Trying not to alert any death eaters, as Harry was hoping to avoid violence as much as possible, Harry explained the situation, and the giants were going to discuss it some. Harry told them he was going to go talk to some of the vampires allied with Voldemort, and when he came back he could set up a quick temporary portal to get them to the island, but he couldn't leave it open, as it would be too dangerous near one of the dark side's base camps.

Harry subtly checked his link with Tom, and found he was not in the area at all, and didn't seem to be feeling any particularly strong emotions at the time. Locating the underground caverns, Harry went and approached the leader of one of the clans allied with Voldemort. When he saw Harry, his eyes widened. "You are a paladin. This explains so much."

"Excuse me? I'm a paladin? Have we met?"

"No Harry Potter, we have not. I am Marcellus. And I now can see and understand what your Sanctuary is. Are you coming to tell me, even those of us allied with the dark are welcome there?"

"Nice to meet you, Marcellus. As long as you understand and respect the rules of Sanctuary, you and all your clansmen are welcome. As are any other magical creatures or species. You will not bring the war to the island. If you cannot be tolerant of others you will not be welcome. You can choose to be completely isolated and unfriendly if you wish, but you must respect the others. It is that simple."

"I think me and my family will be very happy to take you up on this. Voldemort has not been the most favorable of allies, and I can tell your presence virtually assures us he will not succeed."

"Do not misunderstand me. I am not going to war against Voldemort."

"Maybe not right now, but you will protect magic, and it is in everybody's best interests to listen to you. We will leave and join you at your Sanctuary. Just give us until nightfall and tell us where to go."

"Gringotts' branches in London, Bucharest, and Paris all can provide secure transport. If you need nightfall, there is a portal behind the Shrieking Shack in Hogsmeade. It is near a large tree at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. My brother Archimedes will most likely meet you at Sanctuary. He can answer any further questions you have."

"Thank you Harry Potter. I cannot speak for all vampires, but if you ever wish for my aid, I will assist any paladin. Good day."

And Harry left with a few questions and he was quite curious what Marcellus meant by 'paladin'. When Harry returned to the giants, he saw four death eaters had been conked on their heads. Maybe just sleeping, but no doubt they would have a headache when they woke up. All the giants had packed up everything they wanted, and were waiting on Harry. A couple introductions and Harry created an oversized portal, while a couple other giants kept a lookout. Harry went through it quickly, alerted Archimedes that about 40 impressive sized giants were coming through, and Archimedes seemed to get another big smile. Harry came back and watched out while they all went through. When the last one was gone, Harry closed the portal. He turned into a phoenix and fire-flashed back to a room in his manor.

He began searching through books looking for reference to 'paladins' with very little luck. He finally found one of Merlin's books that talked about the will of magic. According to the book, there was an elf mage named Gabriel. Gabriel lived on Atlantis in its final few years. He was extremely powerful, and not terribly well respected since he was born from the union of an elf and a wizard. He claimed magic herself talked to him, and he was a self-proclaimed 'paladin'. From the sound of it, and the theories the book made, magic chooses a being to be a protector of her in times when she is in most danger. Sometimes it is due to violence and terror or even possible apocalypse, sometimes it is one race attempting to annihilate all others, other times it is the very nature of magic herself in danger and she feels she needs to be protected. According to the book, Gabriel actually stood aside, and allowed Atlantis to implode on itself. His role as a paladin seemed to be fulfilled by allowing the society to destroy itself, and he just watched. Gabriel was not the only paladin there's ever been it seems. Apparently several millennia ago, nundu's roamed quite freely, and they began attacking everything else. A vampire had been chosen as paladin, and hunted the nundu's all over the world. They were not willing to listen to reason, and he nearly hunted them to extinction. Basilisks apparently began doing the same too. The basilisks managed to mutate themselves to be capable of limited flight, and could cover air, water, and land, and they felt it was their right to vanquish the others. An ice dragon became the paladin, and again, hunted the basilisks to near extinction. These were the only three examples mentioned in the book. It seemed to allude to the idea that there may have been more or others, since the concept of a paladin was rarely understood and some may have been acting as one, letting magic guide them completely unaware that they were.

Harry began considering his place in magic's plan. Marcellus recognized him immediately as a paladin, and Harry now had no doubt, this sounded like what was happening to him. He idly wondered if the vampire that hunted the nundu's was Marcellus or a friend of Marcellus's. Harry's musings were interrupted by a violent knocking tugging on his connection with Voldemort. Harry opened the connection a little and said "Hello Voldemort."


	10. Organization

**Disclaimer**: I own nothing; it all belongs to J.K.Rowling. I'm just borrowing the characters to play with for a while. This is for pleasure only, no profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.

**

* * *

CHAPTER NINE – Organization**

"Potter! What the hell do you think you are doing!"

"I'm not sure what you're referring to right now. Could you be a bit more specific?"

"I'm talking about stealing my giants! I've heard about your little sanctuary! But I won't sit back and allow you to steal and corrupt my allies. You will pay for this!"

"I'm not stealing anything. I'm offering them the alternative of staying out of your war. And how are you going to make me pay? By attacking more wizards?"

Voldemort seemed to be settling down, though he still got a bit incensed. "You have made yourself an enemy today Potter. I will not allow you to disgrace me like this."

"I have no interest in your war Voldemort. Take all the dark wizards you want who freely choose to submit themselves to your torture and go out and attack and kill all the light wizards who made you into the hatred filled person you are today. But know this, if you abuse, force, or attack magical creatures unable to fend for themselves, know that you will be making an enemy of me. I know you know the goblins have been assisting me. And I know you know what would happen were you to take the fight to them. You've spent the last ten years utilizing terror attacks and failing to upend the government. Right now I have no interest in stopping you, but you and I both know it's probably just a matter of time before that changes."

"Join me Potter. Together we can destroy the people who locked you up. I will not harm your precious creatures. We can rule together."

"Sorry Voldemort, you know that's not going to happen. I have no interest in ruling or being ruled. I'm not actively trying to weaken your standing. I'm just merely looking to help those unable to help themselves. This war is between wizards. Let it stay between them and you won't hear from me."

"I fear you are forcing my hand Potter."

"I can see what you're thinking Voldemort, and do not be so sure. I did spend 10 years in the company of dementors. You think I didn't do any negotiating then?" Harry knew this was blatant misdirection but hoped it would work.

"Remember everything that happens to you, you brought onto yourself Potter." And with a violent push Voldemort snapped closed their connection. Harry chuckled thinking 'I cannot believe he doesn't even yet realize the vampires are leaving tonight.'

Harry came back outside when he heard Tonks arrive with over an hundred house elves behind them. Dobby took the lead, and began explaining to them about Sanctuary. Tonks came over and gave Harry another hug. She smiled and said "Got 'em all. Cost over 50,000 galleons but from what I hear that's pocket change to you."

Harry smiled. "Excellent. Any problems?"

Tonks shook her head. "Nope, although they weren't exactly pleased you were clearing them out of house elves. I think they might make some new laws preventing people from buying them all in the future. And I think this will cost you most of your secrecy now. The Daily Prophet might catch wind of the house elves and come up with some evil theories. Maybe the Quibbler will put you on baking house elf pies. Dumbledore will be sure to bring it up at the next Order meeting."

"Does he know you've seen me?"

"Don't think so. He knows I was going to write to you, and he knows I'm your biggest supporter, but he hasn't asked and I wasn't about to tell him."

"Alright, well anything they ask you now, feel free to answer truthfully. I imagine Severus will have some intriguing reports."

Tonks furrowed her brow. "What did you do?"

Harry smiled devilishly. "Those vampires and giants I met with may have been openly allying with a certain Dark Lord."

Tonks smiled. "That's great Harry! Both of them agreed with you and left Tommy?"

"Yeah, I just got done talking to an extremely pissed Voldemort wondering why his giants disappeared. He still doesn't know the vampires are planning to leave tonight."

"That is good news. And I mean that for the right reasons Harry, not just for the sake of the war."

"I never said a word Tonks." Harry admonished then shrugged, "Though I may have thought it for a second."

The two of them kept conversation light, and caught up on how things were going. Harry had some worry that Voldemort might try and take out his anger on the goblins, but Tonks tried to assure him that the goblins supported what Harry was doing, and inciting a goblin rebellion would only insure things would be pretty much insurmountable for the Dark side to win. Nighttime rolled around, and Tonks felt the call on her Order medallion. Apparently news had reached Dumbledore and it was time to check in.

Albus Dumbledore was worried how people were going to react to this. He had heard rumors from many places, and even managed to get a few straight answers out of Bane. The collective whole of the wizarding world was prejudiced and prone to panic. He didn't want Harry Potter to be seen as a tyrant gaining power. He happened to agree with a lot of what Harry was doing. But when he heard one of his order members had purchased all of the house elves available in the name of Harry Potter he knew he needed to again discuss him.

Albus saw Tonks arrive and Fawkes immediately flew to her. They appeared to be conversing happily about something. Once it appeared everyone had arrived and were getting seated Albus spoke up. "I can see we are all eager to once again discuss our favorite scapegoat, so let's begin."

Many members looked a bit upset at this. Apparently Albus's opinion of Harry was growing. "I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about this afternoon, so, Miss Tonks, if you don't mind please share with us what you did. And anything you do not feel comfortable sharing, feel free to keep to yourself." Albus said with a smile.

"Umm okie. Thank you Headmaster. This morning I saw Harry and he asked me to go to the Ministry and buy any house elves I thought might be interested in joining him at his new home. When asked how many, it said it was up to me, but if they seemed willing, to buy all of them. So with a key to a special account at Gringotts, I did just that. Purchased 143 house elves for Harry in his name. Delivered them to him. Abner down at the Regulation office seemed a bit upset about it, but allowed me to make the purchase. I wouldn't be surprised if they enact some new laws limiting house elf purchases now. And that was the meat of my afternoon." Tonks sat down with a smile.

The order exploded into noise, many of them directing questions at Tonks, wondering if she was under Imperius or knew what nefarious ends Harry was going to use them towards.

Albus began chuckling some and said "Please, please. I feel it is safe to say Harry is not baking any house elf pies. If anything I would guess this was on his friend Dobby's request more likely than any nefarious plan. I actually have a decent idea about what is going on, and perhaps Tonks can help me out with it, but first I would like to hear Severus's report."

"Well, from what I understand, Potter just felt like dropping by one of the Dark Lord's base camps and apparently stole all of the giants out from under his nose. As I was leaving I heard mentions that the vampires had just disappeared as well. I left immediately as the Dark Lord was no doubt about to take out some more anger on his minions." Severus said without the usual sneer and a more curious look on his face.

"This is excellent news." Albus said. "I will now tell you what I have surmised. Harry Potter it seems is opening his home, at some indeterminate place, to all magical creatures and species. Particularly those who would be most harmed by the current war. This will make it much more difficult for Voldemort to make new allies, or apparently keep the ones he did have. From what I understand the goblins have been acting with him and for all intents and purposes would follow him, if he were to make a stand in the war. If we were to gain his support it would help us immensely, but I cannot imagine we will manage to do that. Overt ministrations towards him would most likely push him away from us. For now I think we should be glad Voldemort has fewer resources and maintain a status of peaceful coexistence with Mr. Potter. Anything to refute or add Miss Tonks?"

"Nope. Sounds like you hit the nail on the head so far. I will say, that the response and sheer volume of species and creatures responding to his offer of a new safe home, is well, startling. It just goes to show that wizards have been incredibly intolerant for too long, that so many are willing to leave their current homes or situations to settle somewhere new."

Ron didn't like the sound of this. "Just how close are you with Potter anyway?"

Tonks frowned at him. "I trust him implicitly. If that becomes a problem, I will resign from the Order with no regrets."

Albus jumped in, "I sincerely hope that is not necessary Miss Tonks. I would very much like to have someone here who can somewhat represent Mr. Potter's point of view. If you're not opposed to it, you already seem a sort of unofficial ambassador to him for us."

Tonks shrugged at that. A number of order members were looking at her with anger and distrust in their eyes now. She got sick of their looks. "For Merlin's sake people, he's not building some army of evil. He hasn't even done anything but help us so far. And he pissed off Voldemort today. He doesn't give a crud what you all think of him, and I'm certainly beginning to understand why."

Albus hushed them all quickly and just said "Thank you Miss Tonks. Now let's move onto the next business." The meeting continued and it appeared there were a few people beginning to change their opinions of Harry but there were quite a few holding firm in their dislike. Fawkes disappeared in a fwoosh, and Albus assured them he was just going to see his brother. There wasn't an immediate attack they needed to address. Tonks was beginning to wonder if maybe she would be better off leaving the order but she continued to hold a lot of respect for the Headmaster and tonight's meeting only helped reaffirm that.

Shortly after Tonks left Sanctuary, dozens and dozens of vampires began pouring in through the portal. Harry was glad to see they all appeared unscathed and seemed to have escaped the Dark Lord without incident. Harry felt fury on his link and knew Voldemort recognized they were gone. He was getting a bit worried but knew this was inevitable. As the apparent last of them came through and there was no sign of Marcellus, Harry approached a relatively friendly looking one and asked where Marcellus was. The vampire informed him Marcellus had left much earlier in the day and apparently had somewhere to go. Archimedes fell immediately into his role of apartment manager and ambassador and informed the vampires where many of the other vampires tended to stay, as well as in what directions many of the creatures called their homes. They all accepted that there would be many willing to volunteer themselves for feeding, in exchange for the same courtesy. Unnecessary killing was to be avoided at all costs for the sake of the island.

It was about an hour later that Marcellus appeared, and with him was an absolutely massive brilliant blue dragon. It must have been over 50 feet long. Harry felt the magic in him responding and even Archimedes seemed to feel it too. Harry knew immediately this dragon was going to be joining Harry's family. Fawkes appeared in a burst of flames and perched himself on Harry's shoulder. The dragon and Marcellus walked up to them. No one was shocked to hear the dragon speak, "Hello Harry Potter. I've been waiting for you."


	11. Discovery

**Disclaimer**: I own nothing; it all belongs to J.K.Rowling. I'm just borrowing the characters to play with for a while. This is for pleasure only, no profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.

**

* * *

CHAPTER TEN – Discovery**

Harry smiled a smile of contentment. Fawkes flew off his shoulder and sang a song while Harry bowed before the magnificent creature. "Hello. I hope I haven't kept you waiting for long."

The dragon chuckled. "I got plenty of beauty rest, and we can leave it at that. My name is Apollo and I think you know why I am here."

"Are you to join my family Apollo?"

"Yes Harry I am." Apollo said with an extremely pleased smile.

He ambled forward and so did Harry. Harry put his hands up on both sides of Apollo's massive dragon head, while Apollo wrapped his gigantic whitish-blue wings around Harry and pulled him closer like a cocoon. There was a tornado of magic swirling above them that flew down through them with a _woosh _and was absorbed into the ground. All of those present on the island felt the magic responding and revitalizing everyone there. The manor looked pristine, the homes werewolves and veela were building were instantly nearly finished, the colors of all the foliage and animals seemed to brighten.

Apollo released Harry, and Harry took a step back with tears in his eyes. "Father, why did you not accept my gift?"

Apollo smiled and said "There was no point to my son. I have stayed on this earth for too long as it is. But I couldn't leave until magic had a new paladin. I have longed for this day for centuries. May I see you?"

Harry understood immediately and the tears had yet to stop. He took a step back and look towards the sky. He face grew upward into a dragon's head and his body just kept growing and enlarging until he was a massive ice blue dragon much like his father.

"You are a looker, aren't you?" Apollo said with a chuckle. "I must go now, my strength is waning quickly. Be well, my son. Magic needs you whether she wants to admit it or not." And with that Apollo took off into the sky again, flying briskly and he was quickly out of sight. Harry whispered "Goodbye Apollo" and knew he was gone forever in this form. But that his father was there for him as long as he carried his gift within him and would until a new paladin would become his own child.

Harry turned around still crying but with a wide smile on his face. "Oh my brothers! Fawkes, this is Archimedes. Archimedes, that magnificent red flying turkey is Fawkes. And I would like both of you to meet, Marcellus. Marcellus, these are my brothers, Fawkes and Archimedes."

"Greetings Fawkes, Archimedes," the vampire said with a slight bow to each. "When I recognized you Harry, I knew you would need to meet Apollo."

"If you don't mind me asking, Marcellus, how did you recognize me?"

"I'm more familiar with the workings of magic than most. My wife, Artemis, was Apollo's mother a couple millennia ago." Harry nodded having suspected something like that.

Archimedes spoke up "Well it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance Marcellus. And welcome to Sanctuary."

"I'm sure we'll see each other more often Harry." Marcellus finished with a bow, and Archimedes offered to lead him towards the rest of his clan.

Fawkes looked over at Harry and said "_Are you doing okay brother? You seem to be having some pretty extreme emotions at the moment._"

Harry looked over at Fawkes with a smile. "Yeah. No thanks to you. Did you have to make my disposition so playful?" Fawkes trilled a laugh at Harry and said, "_That wasn't all my doing. I think it is you who is playful, you've just been keeping it in for so long that you forgot who you were._"

Harry shook his head, a bit ashamed to admit his brother was probably right. Fawkes sang him a song, and left in a flash. Harry went back into the manor and went to lie down. His body was exhausted, although it felt hyped up from the new gift from his father.

The next few days Harry was relaxing around his home, conversing with Godric, Helga, and William, and playing around with his new form. Flying as an ice dragon was incredibly exhilarating. In the ways his phoenix form had a fiery intensity and brilliance, the ice dragon was much smoother and more simplistically satisfying. He didn't favor one over the other. Both seemed an essential part of him. His griffin form he used mainly for exploring the land of the island. The jet black color made him unmistakable from any other griffin and almost all the islands inhabitants enjoyed playing with him when he came around.

Dobby had immense success with the house elves. Many of them thought some of the concepts were a bit outrageous. But actually less than half were bonded to Dobby. The rest remained unbonded and acted their part as house elf with just as much fervor. Their was plenty of cleaning and food for Harry, but mainly the house elves were working hard building their own house elf sized replica of the manor a few hundred yards away. Harry found it a bit humorous but encouraged them to the fullest to do what made them happy.

The goblins did their best to allay Harry's fears and said they willingly accepted the risk of inciting the Dark Lord's wrath when they allied themselves with Harry. Harry still worried for them, but knew it was their right to accept that risk.

One day Tonks came by, hoping to see Harry since he hadn't ventured out into the wizarding world in over a week. He was happy to see her though he may have lied to himself still and thought he was merely tolerating her presence. She caught him up on the Ministry's response to his house elf buying binge, and the order's response. She informed him Albus was hoping to have a discussion with him. She indicated he claimed it was purely for informational sharing purposes, and he did not wish to be a bother to Harry, nor impose anything upon him. Harry had to admit, Albus had been acting fairly and respectfully lately. Especially as it concerned him in Order meetings from the sound of it.

Harry agreed and decided to drop in on the old man. His assistance would be an immense help in avoiding butting heads with the Ministry. He dropped Tonks off at Grimmauld Place and accepted a more lingering than usual hug, before flashing to just outside the Headmaster's office. After confirming with Hogwarts that he was in and alone, he walked up and knocked on the door.

A quite pleased and jovial, "Come in, please come in" was heard. Harry found himself with a semi-pleased smile on his face as he sat himself down across from the Headmaster. "I hear you were wishing to speak with me Albus."

"Yes Harry, yes. I was curious to inquire how your Sanctuary is going."

"Quite well. I think the word has been spread sufficiently that beings are aware there is an option and a safe haven away from the wizarding world's war."

"Excellent Harry. I haven't had the opportunity, but I wanted you to know I think this is one of the more magnificent ideas I've heard of in a long time."

"Thank you, although I cannot take too much of the credit. Most of it is merely the will of magic herself."

"Really? How is that?"

Harry pondered how to answer that and just how much he was willing to share. After a little bit of wavering he realized he didn't want to have any secrets if it could be helped. "Tell me, Albus, have you ever heard of the elf named Gabriel?"

"Mage Gabriel. Yes. Supposedly one of the survivors after Atlantis fell. I believe it depends on the author, but some claim he was evil and caused the destruction of Atlantis. Others claim he was a hero and tried everything he could to save Atlantis."

"Actually, neither of those is correct. He wasn't evil nor did he save Atlantis. It was actually his decision to stand back and let Atlantis fall."

"Really?" Albus said with a look of shock on his face.

"Yeah, he was a sort of protector of magic. A paladin they call it. When there is a significant threat, magic herself will connect to an individual who then protects her interests. Sometimes it is preventing a race from annihilation, sometimes it could be the apocalypse. There are not really any hard and fast rules with paladins. I know a vampire, an elf, and a dragon have all been paladins in the past."

"Does this mean you can now add wizard to that list?"

Harry slowly nodded. "Yes it does."

"Is Voldemort so bad that he warrants the intervention of the will of magic herself?"

"No not Voldemort. In the past it has been nundus or basilisks. I'm not sure what it was on Atlantis, but I do know this time, it is not Voldemort. It is all wizards and their attitudes of intolerance that presents the threat."

Albus looked surprised and then disappointed as he processed this. "And in case we completely destroy everything you've turned an island into your own ark of sorts?"

Harry smiled. "I hadn't thought of it that way, but I suppose that could be true. No, I just wanted to get the beings that shouldn't be fighting out of the way. And give them a safe place to exist without suffering for wizardkind's prejudice."

"An admirable goal to be sure," Albus paused and seemed to be biting his tongue.

"I can see you're having trouble restraining yourself Albus. Go ahead and ask whatever it is."

"I am sorry Harry. It just feels like you are such a caring and compassionate individual, is there really nothing we can do to get your assistance in the war?"

Harry paused thinking how he should address this question. "You know Albus, I had a pretty rotten childhood based on some poor decisions you made. I know you did have the best of intentions, but it still boiled down to a case of the needs of the many versus the needs of the few. My needs were put behind the needs of the wizarding world which needed a weapon against the dark. But now I can see that point of view, and I understand it. I'm not convinced it is completely justifiable, but there is some logic to it. Now I have my own case of a similar situation. Only in my case the few are all the intolerant light or dark wizards fighting a war that shouldn't need to be fought. And the many are all the other magical creatures and species that truly have no place in this war other than as collateral damage. And as it stands now, as long as I can protect them, I have no right to involve myself in a fight that would attract others to attack the many that I represent."

"I do understand Harry, just as I am sure you understand why I felt compelled to ask for assistance. It is a shame it has come to this, but I do appreciate what you are doing, and I have been doing everything in my power to make sure the Ministry and the newspapers respect you for what you are doing. I just hope you are less like Mage Gabriel than you fear."

"I certainly am not hoping for destruction, but there is a problem that does need fixing. It's just about figuring out how to fix it with the littlest amount of bloodshed I suppose. Because even if I went out there right now, hunted down Voldemort and killed him and every death eater, the problem would remain every bit as bad as it does today. As one of my friends told me, 'Sometimes the simplest solution to a problem is to completely eradicate it.' I do not think it will come to that, but there is a possibility."

"Tell me Harry, are you so skilled in magic that you could destroy Voldemort so easily?"

"I wouldn't know without trying, but at least let's agree that I have the confidence to do it." Harry said with a smile.

"Ah, before I forget Harry, I wanted to inform you of a discovery I made. I was researching how it was you and Hogwarts got along so well and found out you are the last remaining descendent to both Godric Gryffindor and Helga Hufflepuff."

Harry smiled. "Figured as much. I knew I was the most direct descendent, but I wasn't sure I was the only one. Don't worry, I will protect her. Hogwarts knows that. I know Hogwarts would let me anyway, but can I have your blessing to move around as I wish in the castle?"

"Absolutely Harry. I couldn't stop you, and I wouldn't stop you. I just ask that you respect the usual common courtesies like private Order meetings and such."

"Thank you." Harry said before looking intently at Albus. "And I may regret this, but would like to visit Sanctuary?"

Albus eyes lit up with excitement. He did not expect this. "I would be honored Harry."


	12. Protection

**Disclaimer**: I own nothing; it all belongs to J.K.Rowling. I'm just borrowing the characters to play with for a while. This is for pleasure only, no profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.

**

* * *

CHAPTER ELEVEN – Protection**

Harry popped into his phoenix form and grabbed a hold of the Headmaster. A quick fwoosh of fire-travel and they were at Sanctuary. Albus was in awe at the sights and feelings around him. Harry popped back into his human form.

"Good lord Harry. The magic here is alive! It feels like the exact middle of Stonehenge on the vernal equinox. It is…" Albus paused thinking up the best term for this and settled on "invigorating."

Harry smiled "Yes it definitely is." Archimedes felt his brother's presence and came out to greet them. Harry saw him coming over and said "Albus, I would like you to meet my brother Archimedes. Archimedes, this is Albus Dumbledore, and you can affix about a dozen spiffy titles to the end of that if you wish."

Albus smiled at Harry and took in the griffin in front of him that just shifted into some sort of humanoid lion. "Hello Archimedes. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"You too Albus. I've heard all sorts of good things about you and it is an honor to finally meet you."

Albus raised an eyebrow at that, was looking at Harry out of the corner of his eye, and said "Really?"

"Oh don't mind my brother. You just have to learn how to read between the lines with him. Why he continues to delude himself I'll never know." Archimedes said with a shake of his head as though he were placating a small child.

"You better watch it Archie! I'm sure the dragons are hungry enough to dispose of an old decrepit griffin body." Harry said with a playful frown.

"That's it! I've warned you not to call me that!" And Archimedes transformed back into his normal griffin appearance and jumped straight at Harry. Harry morphed into his large black griffin form and the two wrestled and grappled each other. Neither was trying to actually hurt the other, they were just attempting to give the other what to griffins would be essentially a _noogie_. Archimedes got the upper hand and had Harry pinned beneath him. He jumped in the air to pounce further on his body, and with the opportunity Harry popped into his phoenix form and flew away. Archimedes went back into his more communicative form and said "Such a cheater isn't he Albus?"

Albus could only smile and laugh at these two. He was beginning to understand the concept of brotherhood between these two was even stronger than most brothers by blood. "I think it may be in my best interests to remain diplomatic and not comment on Harry's methods."

Harry rejoined them in his human form with a smile on his face. Fawkes was now with him, and it appeared he wanted to join his brother and companion on their tour. Harry began their tour and right away Albus was asking questions, Harry was unsure about answering. Harry asked the Headmaster to perform an oath of confidentiality and was willing to answer any of them then.

"Very well Harry, I swear on my magic to keep the secrets of Sanctuary to myself and share them with no others." A swirl of magic was visible and the oath was official. "There you go, and now, the one that is killing me the most, where on earth are we?"

Harry smiled. "We are standing on the island mage Gabriel thought no one would stand on ever again."

Albus's eyes widened "Oh heavens. Is it true Merlin made this his Avalon?"

Harry nodded. "I'm not certain, but as I am guessing, Merlin managed to raise it back up, and the foliage has since grown back on it. I have found few signs of salvageable ruins, other than the manor that Merlin built himself. I'm pretty sure the manor is directly over some central magical force too, as the wards and protections all stem from around it."

Harry explained as much as he himself had understood. He pointed around the grounds to directions some creatures considered their homes. They walked past the neighborhood of homes where the veela, werewolves, and even some vampires lived. He finished with a tour of the manor and a bit of time in the library. Albus was completely fascinated with many of the books and scrolls Harry had. Harry gave him some quiet time to read some, while Harry did the same. Albus was interrupted by his Order Medallion buzzing indicating someone had an emergency. He activated it and heard Kingsley Shacklebolt's voice. "Albus! The Dark Lord is attacking Diagon Alley! We need your help!" Albus assured him he would be right there, said a brief goodbye to Harry, and grabbed onto Fawkes tail and they disappeared.

Albus appeared and saw an advancing Death Eater force of at least 50 strong. Heading it at the front was Harry Potter. This supposed Harry was screaming killing curses and sending them flailing towards any crowds of people he could find. Albus straightened his body up and screamed out "You – Are – Not – Harry – Potter!" and with a forceful lunge forward with his wand aimed at the fake Harry, an explosion of white power flew from his body. It looked like a ghost of Albus was flying straight towards Harry where it hit a shield and sliced straight through impacting hard into the faux Harry Potter. His body crumpled and flew backwards towards a storefront. Apparently this impostor had some fail safes to keep himself from getting captured and he completely disappeared before even smashing into the windows behind him.

The rest of the Death Eaters took this as a cue and all disapparated away. The fighters for the light took a look at the destruction and realized this could have been a lot worse. This was merely a statement by the dark. Albus recognized it was Tom merely testing Harry as well as trying to make sure Harry had enemies. He was a bit saddened to think Harry wouldn't really care about this. After assisting all those who needed immediate help, and dealing with the injured and the dead, the Order assembled for an immediate meeting.

It seemed more people were becoming sympathetic to Harry Potter. Ron Weasley was unsurprisingly not one of them. "How are you so sure that wasn't Harry Potter?"

Several people protested saying Harry had never attacked anyone since he got out of prison and he wasn't likely to start by openly allying with his parents' murderer and stage a weak public attack. A few of the doubters grumbled and said that's just what Potter would want you to think.

Albus silenced them quickly. "I know that was not Harry Potter for a number of reasons. I am familiar with his character, and I have a general idea for his power. But even if I barely knew him, he has a perfect alibi, in that I was talking with him and had been in his presence for hours when Kingsley alerted me to the attack."

Ron thought this too sounded awfully convenient, but seemed to be in a minority on this. Tonks seemed quite happy to hear this, and asked if he had been at what she called 'Harry's place'. Albus assured her, he could not discuss it in any capacity, but that yes he was, and it was absolutely breathtaking. This only served to pique more people's curiosities but Albus was unable to tell anything further.

There were some scattered attacks over the next few weeks supposedly led by Harry Potter, but only the most closed-minded it seemed believed it was truly Harry Potter. When a few people they knew to be supporters of the Dark Lord agreed it was Harry Potter it seemed quite clear to everyone else that this was merely the Dark Lord trying to manipulate public opinion of Mr. Potter. When some articles claimed it was because he was too scared to attack Potter himself, the impostor stopped showing up altogether. None of it seemed to bother Harry in the least though. The only ones he could begin to care for knew him and knew what he was like and was doing. The Dark Lord did not take this well. It seemed being ignored was somewhat insulting to him, and the attacks then continued, though this time messages were left for Harry instead. And the reasons for the attacks seemed to be him. One of the more notables ones, was that the Burrow was completely destroyed. No one was hurt luckily, but the Weasley family home was gone. Upon one of the walls that remained standing, the missing and decayed body of Remus Lupin had been nailed and crucified. In his mouth was the rat formerly known as Peter Pettigrew. Written in blood was the message "Scabbers missed his old home. Is your collection of Marauders complete now Potter?"

When Harry was told, he frowned, but just a little. Ron however became even angrier at Potter. He was blaming him for every wrong thing, for being so callous and heartless and bringing this onto them. The other Weasley's mourned the loss of their childhood home, but were not blaming Harry for this. No matter how many messages and attacks continued to be made, Harry was staying out of the war. They continued for a couple months becoming more sporadic. School had started back up, and it seemed the Dark Lord was getting bolder.

Harry received word from a couple vampires that had been at Sanctuary for a while, that the Dark Lord had purchased a pair of nundus. Harry was a bit curious at this, as it sounded like an obvious trap for him. The Dark Lord seemed to respecting Harry's wishes and had avoided all other creatures or species and was just attacking wizards and very limitedly muggles. The vampires seemed completely honest about it though, and he knew he had to investigate it. Even if he was being played, he didn't want creatures with that kind of power being forced to be used against others. The breath of just one nundu can kill hundreds in every direction. All it would take would be something like a control curse or potion on the creature and there would be little anyone could do. Apparently the delivery of the nundus was happening tomorrow morning at 11:00 AM.

Harry went to a base camp of the Dark Lord's in southern Spain. There were about 30 Death Eaters milling about. Harry was hiding in some trees in his phoenix form. Right around 11:00, two large cages with nundus in them were carted in. Harry felt some magic wards spread quickly over the area. Anti-appartion, anti-portkey, and some kind of magic muter. Harry knew they would do little to affect him, but it just assured him this was supposed to be a trap for him. Harry sang a loud trilling song that put fear into the hearts of the Death Eaters. Only the nundus seemed to find a calming effect in the song. He shifted form into the large black griffin and began tearing through the masked men. They were firing curses at him, but he easily avoided most and his griffin body just absorbed some of the weaker ones. He had knocked almost half the Death Eaters unconscious without even using any magic. This was way too easy.

All of sudden, the large black griffin stopped. He let out a terrifying roaring screech and all the Death Eaters halted their movements. The griffin popped in Harry Potter who just slammed his fist into the ground. The resultant shockwave knocked all the Death Eaters off their feet, and with a few quick wand movements a wave of stunning power erupted in all 360 degrees from the man in the center. Any Death Eaters still conscious were quickly knocked out. Harry quickly drew up a portal to Sanctuary, and forcefully shoved the nundu cages through. His brother would be able to sort them out. Right now he had something much more important to do.

Hundreds of miles away, an overconfident Dark Lord was marching over 200 followers in a straight frontal attack onto a school of children.


	13. Mistakes

**Disclaimer**: I own nothing; it all belongs to J.K.Rowling. I'm just borrowing the characters to play with for a while. This is for pleasure only, no profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.

**

* * *

CHAPTER TWELVE – Mistakes**

The Dark Lord was at a loss on how to deal with Harry Potter. He was unable to make his way to Sanctuary even knowing where portals were. He couldn't even approach them, and that was an insult to his power. He decided he was going to get no response from Harry attacking wizards, so he had young Malfoy arrange a purchase of nundus from Egypt. He planned to use this as the perfect time to attack Hogwarts and take over the premiere stronghold of power for the light. He had the floo access blocked, and erected massive anti-portkey wards over the grounds. He was going to make this a show of power not cunning.

Albus felt the anti-portkey wards cascading over the castle grounds. Hogwarts was scared and worried. He alerted everyone to come to the Great Hall immediately. After a quick look outside he saw way too many Death Eaters marching calmly towards the castle. This was a force he would not be able to overcome, especially not with Tom there in the lead. He secured the Hall and most students had been accounted for. He assigned some teachers to maintain order, and took all the staff who were members of the Order and had them follow him outside. He was silently sending a message for Harry to come help them.

Harry had been incapacitating the Death Eaters when he heard Hogwarts' cry for help. He knew she was in danger and he had a duty to protect her. Finishing up with them, he quickly focused his mind and magic and apparated straight onto her front steps. Coming out behind him were the Headmaster and several teachers, including an older looking Professor McGonagall and a very frightened Hermione Weasley. Harry turned to Albus and said, "Get you and your people back inside and protect the children, because I'm not going to."

Albus looked at Harry and said, "You will need our help Harry, not even you could overcome a force like this one."

"Albus, I swore I would protect Hogwarts and I will. Now get inside. It's a lot easier blowing things up when you have no allies in the way. I will force you in if I have to."

Albus told them all to go back inside, and his staff looked at him like he was crazy. The Death Eaters were only about 100 yards away now. When they had gone back into the Entrance Hall, Harry said "Hogwarts, lock 'em down please." The air around the castle rippled and the stone walls all seemed to melt solid. Windows and doors disappeared until the whole castle was a giant sharply shaped rock. Harry mumbled out of the corner of his mouth, "if you're going to be this stubborn Albus, please just be quiet and stay invisible."

Albus was a bit surprised he had been spotted, but he knew Harry had probably accepted this when Albus agreed so easily to go back inside. Inside the students were scared when all the windows sealed over and the doors sealed shut after the rest of the professors were in and all the students had been accounted for. The torches all flared up and brightened the enclosed gigantic room now. Hogwarts seemed to take some initiative of her own though, and the wall facing towards the oncoming Death Eaters shimmered until it was transparent. The outside remained solid, and neither Harry, nor Albus, nor the Death Eaters knew they were performing before an audience.

The massive line of Death Eaters stopped approximately 50 yards away. The Dark Lord spoke up, "Potter! What the hell are you doing here? What do you care for a bunch of backstabbing children?"

Harry spoke up calmly, and was spinning his cherry wand in his hand. "I'm not sure all children can be condemned as backstabbers, but nevertheless, you know I must protect Hogwarts. Even in your black heart, if you carry the blood of Slytherin, you know you too must protect her. Why don't you just go home, consider this a learning experience, and we can all leave in one piece?"

Next to the Dark Lord was one of his most faithful Lieutenants, a heavily scarred Draco Malfoy. "Potter! You are going to die here just like all the rest of the mudbloods! You are not worthy to lick my boots."

Harry shook his head. "Malfoy, Malfoy, Malfoy. You raped your own mother for your initiation. How can you possibly ever think what you are doing is just or right? How does your mind seriously find that an acceptable example-"

Draco apparently didn't like the sound of this and interrupted Harry by yelling "Avada Kedavra!" and sending a killing curse straight at Harry. The Dark Lord seemed to be snickering at the madness young Malfoy had become since his initiation. It had certainly been one of his favorites. Harry was unperturbed, reached out with his free left hand, and caught the killing curse. He proceeded to squeeze it in and out like a stress relieving ball, which it may have been. Harry commented "Not bad Malfoy, I see your rituals have finally, officially got you to above average strength. It's a shame even with that you still are not even half what your master is or what Albus is." Draco was enraged but his fear at what Harry was doing kept him from making another move. Harry stopped his squeezing and clenched his hand into a tight fist around the still green glowing curse. He aimed his palm upward and slowly opened his hand. A lime green ferret burst forth straight out of the flesh of Harry's hand and scurried away along the edge of the castle wall. The Death Eaters were standing there in shock unsure what to do.

Harry broke the silence and said "The next idiot who attacks me will-"

And again, someone interrupted Harry. Way down, Voldemort's right flank a Death Eater screamed out "Avada Kedavra!" He seriously must not have been bright considering how well that curse worked the first time. Harry snapped into action and had pointed his wand straight at the man. He then wrapped his left hand around his wand and with a firm two handed grip, gave a violent tug like he was pulling a rip cord. He mumbled out "Accio moron" and the overeager Death Eater's body snapped forward like a bungee's apex had just pulled him. He flew threw the air at speeds much faster than his weak killing curse, and caught up with it and went straight into his own spell. Harry took one step forward and the Death Eater's now limp body flew straight behind him and smashed with a fleshy sounding splat into the castle wall. Harry's eyes never left the Dark Lord the whole time.

The rest of the Death Eaters were getting visibly nervous now. The Dark Lord spoke up, "You cannot defeat us all Potter no matter what party tricks you can do."

Harry smiled a bit and said, "Tom, you have-"

"Do not call me that filthy muggle name!"

Harry said insistently, "_Tom_, I respected your wishes to call you by your ridiculous made up name when I agreed to not be your enemy. When you are attacking Hogwarts, you are most definitely my enemy. And you seriously have no idea what I am capable of."

Harry locked eyes with the Dark Lord, and sent out a vicious Legilimens attack. The Dark Lord put almost all his mental strength into deflecting it, and was unprepared for Harry to come screaming along their curse scar connection and pillage straight through his defenses. Harry found what he was looking for, the control over the Dark Mark, and sent a sharp burst of pain to everyone with the mark burned into their skin. All the Death Eaters screamed out clutching their arms unprepared for this. Some of them fell to their knees. The Dark Lord as quickly as he could reasserted control and ejected Harry from his mind. He was forced to admit he was overmatched right now.

"This isn't over Potter. Not by a long shot." And with that the Dark Lord activated an emergency portkey he had that apparently could bypass the wards they had erected. About a dozen other Death Eaters, presumably the inner circle also disappeared shortly after. The remaining Death Eaters were forced to turn tail and flee, some of them on brooms.

Seeing them run, and realizing his bit of exercise was done, Harry decided he wanted to have a bit more fun. The Death Eaters running were not prepared for a gigantic ice dragon to chase them off of Hogwarts' grounds. Harry kept breathing frigidly cold fire on them enough to slow them down and piss them off but not incapacitate them. His only care was Hogwarts protection. He had no interest in catching these criminals.

Harry flew back to the Headmaster and transformed to his human state. He asked if Albus could deal with the single casualty of this attack. Albus merely nodded quietly, unsure how to respond. Harry thanked him, whispered something to Hogwarts who melted back into her normal state, and Harry disappeared with pop.

The hall just sat in silence after watching a single man scare away the Dark Lord and a couple hundred Death Eaters. When he transformed into a gigantic blue dragon and started breathing blue fire on them as they ran away they just kept sniggering to themselves. If there was any doubt, most all of them felt Hogwarts was even safer than they had previously imagined. When they doors reappeared and the stone seemed to melt away they broke into cheers and applause. Harry's only intentions were to protect the castle he swore he would. But in doing so he had assured himself a complete school full of allies, were he to ask for it.

Albus took lead in explaining the situation to the Ministry and they took away the Death Eater's body. Albus wanted to make sure it was clear, Harry was in no way supporting the Ministry or the side of the light. He was here to protect the school, not its inhabitants. But that without his assistance there would have been who knows how much damage and casualties.

Despite Albus's comments there were some editorials in the papers declaring Harry Potter again as the champion to the people he once had been. Opposing viewpoints tried to correct them, but others didn't want to hear it. Harry represented a hope to end this war that they were previously searching so long for. Harry of course did not care what they wrote, as he was still unconcerned with the majority of the affairs of wizards. His status as a citizen remained, but his Sanctuary existed outside of Britain's control or land. It existed unto its own form of government, and as long as he had that, Harry didn't care what they said about him.

Those who had been cheering his name before, eventually began damning him over the course of the next year. The Dark Lord's attacks were stepped up and focused only on wizards, intentionally avoiding anything that might incite the wrath of Harry Potter. The creatures were left alone, the goblins provided safety to those whenever Diagon Alley was attacked, and even the Death Eaters left the goblins alone. The society was destroying itself and the battles just kept coming. It seemed no one could stop the Dark Lord, and he kept searching for a weakness he could later exploit in Harry Potter. Many times Albus tried to get Harry's assistance, but Harry was firm in that those trying to force him to fight were the ones who should be fighting harder themselves. Tonks remained friendly with him, and never asked him to fight but you could tell she wished he would. They were asking him to protect a way of life that Harry didn't feel was worth saving. Nothing could change Harry's mind it seemed. It was about two years later, when something happened that did change Harry's mind. His brother Fawkes appeared with a letter in his talons addressed to Harry.


	14. Responsibility

**Disclaimer**: I own nothing; it all belongs to J.K.Rowling. I'm just borrowing the characters to play with for a while. This is for pleasure only, no profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.

**

* * *

CHAPTER THIRTEEN – Responsibility**

_Dear Harry,_

_I think you know how sorry I am in the ways I treated you in the past. It is a shame you cannot see the beauty in wizarding society, but I cannot disagree with your opinion of some its intolerance. In case you have not figured it out, I asked Fawkes to deliver you this letter upon my death. No doubt due to the actions of the Dark Lord. I am saddened I am reduced to doing this, but I know without me, the Light will fall and Voldemort will win. The machinations of this manipulative old man are at the end, and it is with my last dying wish that I implore you to stop him. You know he represents evil and cannot be left alone. I always thought if we hadn't held Tom off as well as we had for as long as we had, you may have felt strong enough to stand up and vanquish him years ago. But as your friend I wouldn't attempt to be so callous as to intentionally lose the war and allow something like that to happen. You know as well as I that I did consider it though, particularly upon some strong urging from Severus._

_I spent a lot of time pondering you and your role as paladin. I think Sanctuary is truly a most wonderful creation towards the betterment of all magic. In my heart, only Hogwarts do I hold so dear. I feel as the paladin, you have been wavering, wondering when to step in and help defeat the evils of the world threatening the good of all beings of magic. It was the realization that the most likely sign would be my death and the turning of the tide against the Light that caused me to write this letter. I know I appear to be using you, and appealing to sides of you, that you may feel I have no right to even address, and please feel free to blame me. I am on my next great adventure and can seek your forgiveness at a much later time. I can only plead you will agree with me and will vanquish the evil that is Tom Riddle. In doing so, you will have complete freedom from the Ministry, and your Sanctuary will be officially recognized as independent and respected exactly for what it is._

_I have also discussed this possibility with the Order and particularly Miss Tonks. All the people in power are willing to grant you whatever freedoms you need and hope you are willing to take up this responsibility. We have no choice left but to hope you will heed our call. If you do, I know in my heart you will succeed, and I have done everything in my power to make your life after the war everything you would hope it to be._

_Sincerely and with Love,_

_Albus_

Harry couldn't help it and found himself with tears in his eyes. He looked over at Fawkes, "Is this for real? He's not just making this up to use me, is he?"

Fawkes had a melancholy song and laughed a bit. "_Yes. He is gone. He contemplated faking his death and sending you a letter like this, but I pecked the heck out of him for it. He was sincere, and I feel it is time you stepped in and ended this war. I think he has at least one more manipulation in store for you too._" Fawkes finished with a smile.

"There really isn't any decision at all for me, is there?"

Fawkes just jumped into the air and trilled for several minutes. Harry briefly grieved for the old man, and his brother's companion. He cried more tears, and thought about how little he had been doing lately. Just sitting idly by watching a society destroy itself.

Any questions, concerns, or doubts Harry had went completely away the moment he felt the sickening joy and excitement along his curse scar link.

Fawkes' pain at losing his companion caught up with him, and he settled onto the floor and burst into flames, and was reborn. Harry picked up his young brother, carried him out to Archimedes, and informed him of what he had to do. Archimedes was more than happy to take care of the little phoenix and wished Harry luck. He apparently knew that today had been a long time coming.

The battle in Hogsmeade had been horrible. Many order members had been severely injured. Some of those that had been killed including both elder Weasley parents, Minerva McGonagall, Kingsley Shacklebolt, and an exposed traitor in Severus Snape. The loss they were all feeling had been the death of Albus Dumbledore. He and the Dark Lord dueled viciously and violently for over twenty minutes. They were tiring each other out, and it was a cowardly attack from Draco Malfoy that diverted the old man's attention. The Dark Lord then connected with a dark severing charm that ripped Albus's wand and arm away from his body. A crowd of twenty Death Eaters surrounded the fallen leader of the light and repeatedly cast Cruciatus on him. The Dark Lord finished by stabbing his wand through Albus's heart and casting an explosion hex. The Death Eaters fled quickly after in victory. The side of the light had no idea what to do. They had depended on Albus for so much for so long. Without him, they were lost.

Harry arrived and found it way too fitting that the Dark Lord was again setting up camp at the old Riddle House in Little Hangleton. Harry wasn't sure what he was about to do, but right now he knew he had to become a monster. Harry cast a massive net over the area, preventing anyone from leaving. He added the strongest apparition and portkey wards he could muster. Harry sent out his magical senses and felt the Dark Lord in one of the den like rooms, which luckily had the only floo access. There were 14 other Death Eaters in that room. Forcing himself into a state of calm, Harry apparated straight into the room, right next to the fireplace. Curses were flung at Harry but he essentially ignored them and diverted them away from his body. He placed his hand on the fireplace and it completely imploded upon itself in a shower of dust.

The fifteen others in the room had their wands trained right on Harry waiting to make a move. The Dark Lord feared this might happen but knew it was unavoidable. He honestly didn't think he would be able to defeat Harry. Harry spoke up. "Now that none of us can go anywhere, I think we need to talk."

Harry looked at the people all staring at him with fear and hatred in their eyes. "You all have become a cancer on magic, and I realize now, amputation is necessary. Just how much, is up to you."

Voldemort said "Join us Harry. We are prepared to allow you an equal share in the new world order."

Harry maintained his calm. "No Tom. I am taking up my duty as judge and jury. Executioner I may be, or I may not."

Draco spoke up "You cannot kill us all, you don't have the guts!"

Harry cocked his head looking at Draco, then shook it saying, "No Draco, I'm not giving you a choice, your fate has been decided." Harry then lifted his right hand and Draco was summoned straight towards Harry. Harry took a step to the left, transformed his right arm into a black griffin's lion leg, and as Draco came flying by he dug his nails into the flesh of his face, scraping and scarring him further before slamming his whole paw down on Draco. Draco's skull was completely shattered under the force he hit the stone floor with. Harry calmly shook some of the blood off his arm and transformed it back into his hand, still looking at the rest of the people in the room.

This in turn started off a flurry of activity from all the others. Curse after curse came flowing out of their wands towards Harry. Harry merely held up his hand and all of them slammed into an inivisible shield. While he was doing this, Harry concentrated hard on his link with the Dark Lord, and he reached deep into Voldemort's mind and just pinched as hard as he could. The Dark Lord appeared to be just standing there stupidly, while his inner circle fought to kill Harry Potter. With their leader unable to move, Harry began fighting back, making careful usage of hitting each person with exactly the same curses they were sending at him. In less than two minutes they were all dead. Except for a still unmoving Dark Lord and a self-assured Harry Potter. Harry considered what the best thing to do now would be.

He went into the Dark Lord's mind and tried to have a conversation with the outwardly catatonic man. He was incoherent in his rage at being trapped in his own mind, and there was little to be learned or to help Harry determine what to do. Harry finally decided the best solution he had, to protect the sanctity of magic, was to leech the magic straight from the Dark Mark. He reached into the Dark Lord's mind and connected to every Dark Mark he could. He began sucking and leeching the magic as hard and fast as he could. Harry only intended to leave them all squibs. Apparently some people were too reliant on their magic and seemed to die or have heart attacks when their magic was pulled from them. The ones who lived were stuck with an ugly black tattoo on their arms, and a hollowness inside them that was so empty it actually hurt.

Harry still wasn't sure what to do about Tom. His body was already braindead and was going to be delivered to the Ministry. After some thought, and even some guidance from his father, Harry separated Tom's soul from his body, grabbed it tight and held on, and burst into the flames of rebirth. The cleansing aspects of the phoenix's flames decimated the soul into complete nonexistence. Were there any good in him, or hope for redemption, some part of him would have remained. Harry was unsurprised that there was nothing left.

Harry took the oddly still alive body of the Dark Lord, even though it was braindead and had no soul, and apparated to the Ministry.

Minister Diggory was in his office trying to figure out what to do. Albus Dumbledore had died and the Dark Lord was going to take over the wizarding world. He had had too many scares today and was simply not prepared for Harry Potter to appear in his office carrying the body of the Dark Lord. Harry seemed to regain some compassion and realized this could easily be interpreted incorrectly. He awoke the Minister, and requested that the Minister invite as many officials as he felt were necessary to be present while Harry explained to him the actions of the past twenty minutes.

A few senior members of the Wizengamot, and several department Ministers made their way into the Minister's office. Tonks came barreling in and grasped onto Harry in a hug crying her eyes out. She apparently thought Harry was here to help come up with a plan to defeat Voldemort, now that he was aware Dumbledore had died, and completely missed the fact that the body of the Dark Lord was on the floor. When she realized it she swore out loud, and said she had to go get something.

She apparated away, while Harry explained the letter he received, and his actions in response to it. No one had any fault in what he had done, but it seemed they were more afraid of him now, than they were relieved the Dark Lord was dead. A few looked angry that Harry hadn't done anything before now but wisely kept those thoughts silent for now.

A still frantic and shocked Tonks arrived back in the Minister's office about ten minutes later. She quickly handed an envelope to the Minister, as well as another to Harry. Harry recognized the writing and thought he had seen the last of it. It seems Fawkes was right. Albus did have one last manipulation to pull.


	15. Change

**Disclaimer**: I own nothing; it all belongs to J.K.Rowling. I'm just borrowing the characters to play with for a while. This is for pleasure only, no profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.

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EPILOGUE – Change**

_Dear Harry,_

_It pleases me greatly to know you have come through for those of us who don't deserve your help again. I may not have always believed in you, but these last three years I've known you I could not have been prouder of you. You stood by your convictions, even when I could tell in your heart it hurt you to not interfere in the wizarding world's war. _

_Sometimes it is amazing how the will of magic drives us. It has driven you to an incredibly unique opportunity that I would like to offer you and wish you would consider. You are the last heir to Godric and Helga. And assuming Miss Tonks is correct in her delivery, the final remaining heir of Salazar is now gone for good. In times of extreme duress or war, control of Hogwarts can be returned to those who have the rightful claim to it. Regardless of the unknown status of Rowena's heir, you are a sole individual in charge for 2/3rds of Hogwarts now. It is my hope that you assume control of her, and change her. She can remain a school, and will always function as a wonderful one. But I believe this presents itself as a golden opportunity to turn Hogwarts into another Sanctuary. Ideally one where even Wizards and Witches are welcome. Intolerance may be met with a swift boot and a kick out the gates. Opening the doors to magical instruction to all beings and creatures. The headmasters I discussed the possibility with all agreed this was not an opportunity to be missed. You could easily have a vampire teach History who has lived several millennia of it, as well as who knows what subjects and fields of magic we could learn from peaceful coexistence with other species._

_The way this all falls together I think may have been magic herself pushing me. Godric and Helga I spoke with briefly when you were out and both think it is a magnificent idea. I have no doubt Archimedes would be ecstatic to be a Deputy Headmaster or even to take managerial control over Sanctuary. This is the future you have been hoping for, and I know it is a massive responsibility but I urge you not to miss this opportunity. I have arranged with the Ministry for all of this to be done completely legally and have rescinded control of the school to the heirs. Minister Diggory should be reading a letter similar to this one explaining my hope for the future._

_I promise to send no more letters from beyond the grave. I will not try to manipulate you or use you ever again. I can only present you with this chance and hope you take it._

_Sincerely, a well-intentioned old man,_

_Albus_

_P.S. – Please tell Miss Tonks how you feel about her. And I am not referring to the way you lie to yourself about how you feel about her._

Harry could only shake his head and smile. There was definitely more to magic's plan than Harry had realized. He looked over to Minister Diggory, who surprisingly had a very eager and happy look on his face.

"Mr. Potter, this was his wish, and I think it would be a wonderful idea. Part of this includes the dissolution of the Hogwarts' Board of Governors, and it is completely up to you how wish to govern that land. Officially, as of now it is private school controlling and governing itself. And I assure you I will do everything in my capacity to assist you in any way. I agree with Albus and you that much of this war was our history of intolerance. And now with the war over I intend to try and reform the popular and public opinion of other species and races as well as the unimportance of blood."

All the emotions Harry was feeling were coming on strong to him and he couldn't stop the tears from falling. Tonks jumped at the opportunity and hugged him tight. She held onto him and gave into the same emotions and just cried with relief and exasperation. Harry looked around at some of the disbelieving faces that looked upset, and a few that looked hopeful. He smiled at Minister Diggory, nodded, and said "I'll do it."

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Author's Note (Updated June 6, 2005):** After a number of responses asking for more and realizing I did have a few confrontations in mind, I finally wrote a follow-up. It is one-shot sequel, or if you prefer a much longer additional second epilogue entitled **Harry Potter and the Apathy of Freedom**. Check it out if you want more. Reviews and comments on this story and the next are greatly appreciated. Thanks.  
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